Forever Wanting
by Crescent Moon 573
Summary: Annya needed to escape, so escape she did, into the mortal world (she is a fairy). In the mortal world Annya finds the love of her life, but what will happen to her when the law of the fairies say that she cannot marry a mortal on penalty of death?
1. One

A Vision Chapter One 

On either side the river lie

Long the fields of barley and of rye,

That clothe the world a meet the sky;

And thro' the field of the roads run by.

To many-tower'd Camelot;

And up and down the people go,

Gazing where the lilies blow,

Round an island there below,

The island of Shalott.

Annya was walking at dawn between the snow-white aspens along the crystal clear river. Her barefeet barely left any marks on the moss that she tread on. It was her 100th birthday; and this was a very special birthday, for she was to choose someone to marry as was it her duty as a princess, but she loved no one.

She shivered in the crisp morning air, which was odd because she could not feel icy or warm.

_Just nervous,_ she thought, as she fluttered her wings to scatter the dew on them. The sun started to shine brightly and made the colours of her wings reflect on the moss. They were ruby red with a glassy light blue around the edges, and by her shoulder blades the blue spread out in no apparent order. All the other fairy's wings were plain silver and not as beautiful as hers.

Annya was staring at her reflection in the shining waters of the river. Her eyes were blood red. Perhaps they were red, to match her wings. Her eyes were usually different shades of blue and purple. She had rosy lips and was extremely pretty. She could see in the river the high collar around her neck that stopped in front of her throat and went down in a shape of a "v". It was a, extravagant dress that her mother had made out of the morning sun and night sky, the rainbow, the stars, and the clouds. It was constantly changing colour, and shone brightly because of the stars. Her silver hair touched the water and the reflection disappeared.

Annya stood up; something was happening in the mortal world. The connections to the mortal world and the mysterious powers fairies have let her sense that the mortals would be very happy; but for what reason? Annya called upon the stars to give her a vision of what was happening in the mortal world. She closed her eyes and everything around her started to spin and her spirit was whizzing through the air. Annya landed in the middle of a dusty road. She looked at her surroundings. She was definitely in the mortal world, standing outside the gates of King Arthur's castle. As she looked around her, she saw peasant's and farmer's houses; people were crowding the streets and cheering. Annya looked down the road opposite the gate and saw dust rising behind knights riding their horses. Their armour gleamed in the daylight and nearly blinded Annya's delicate eyes. She started to walk towards the knights with her long dress dragging behind her, now silver as if trying to out-shine the knight's armour. There was a small tug on her from the fairy world calling her spirit back, but she easily shrugged it off.

The first thing that she saw were oxen pulling huge carts, full of injured or dead men.

_A bloody battle has been fought,_ Annya thought. She started to weave a path through the oxen carts towards the knights. Dust started rise even more, and it made Annya cough and feel dirty.

Annya looked up from her fit of coughing and saw a knight whose shield held a red cross on it. He held it very proudly. She saw his sword banging on his thigh as the horse trotted. He seemed to like his sword banging against him, as if it were a re-assurance that he could always use when needed. He had a broad face that seemed happy with victory, but sad with the losses in order to win it. His golden blond hair was blowing back with the slight breeze. He had light blue eyes that seemed to be staring at something that wasn't there. His face hadn't been shaved in a while, and was growing a beard. He was riding a proud magnificent blood bay.

Annya recognized him immediately from the stories that were sung about him. He was none other than Sir Lancelot! Oh how she wished that he could see her, for this was only a vision. She followed him into the great wooden gates that held King Arthur's castle safe. As soon as Annya stepped behind the gates, she saw how busy it was. There were so many people occupied with their jobs that they didn't even notice the knights until a trumpet was blown to announce their arrival. When they heard the trumpet, they immediately dropped what they were doing and ran to aid the knights and the wounded. Right at that moment Annya felt a harsh pull on herself again, and she had to put up a little fight for her spirit to stay in the vision.

An important looking-servant came to help Sir Lancelot dismount his horse. Sir Lancelot murmured a few words to the servant, and Annya heard the servant reply, "At the round table, Sir." Sir Lancelot began to quickly walk towards the doors of the castle. Two guards at the gate opened them for Sir Lancelot to enter.

Once inside the castle, Annya could feel its power seeping through her, searching her, and she felt small and powerless. Just the sheer grandness of the beautifully painted halls could make a person of high power feel like a peasant. There were angels painted in gold, looking down at anyone who came into the halls. Their wings were of an eagles'; each feather magnificently decorated in its own beauty. Each angel held a weapon, and Annya especially liked the bow and arrow. At the bottom of the great pillars and walls were devils. They were the most hideous things Annya had ever seen. They were hooded in dark capes. Some of the devils were going to pounce on the angels, and their hoods would fall back and reveal their face. Their teeth were sharpened so they could tear through steel, and they had faces were full of hatred and anger. It seemed as if they were having fun participating in the war.

Annya quickly walked past their images and closely followed Sir Lancelot. They came up to huge wooden double doors that reached the roof of the castle. They were very thick with a cross carefully carved into each door. Sir Lancelot had difficulty opening the doors.

Annya walked into the room. It was quite barren except for a few stain glass windows and a very big round table in the middle of the room, elevated about an inch off the floor. There were lanterns that held thick long candles in theme and the flame flickered with the wind. Annya began to read the names made of gold on the backs of the high wooden chairs. When her gaze came to the middle, she nearly jumped on the air for seeing a man sitting there. But as she looked more closely at the human eating by himself, she realized that it was King Arthur!

Sir Lancelot approached him, knelt, and sat in a chair close to the king.

"How went the battle, Sir Lancelot?" the King started.

"Well, my king – almost too well."

"What do you mean, Sir Lancelot? Speak quickly, for I have other matters to attend to."

"Sire, we have angered the alliances of those we have just defeated. I have heard that they have declared war on us already, although not formally. Sire, we started off with 10,000 men. Now, after this war we have just fought, around 7,000 are dead or injured. If they attack us now we will not be able to defend ourselves. We will all be killed – even the woman and children, if we do not do something soon. We have very little time to raise a bigger army or ask our alliances to help us or to make more alliances. Even then, to evacuate the kingdom would be the best idea…" Annya could no longer resist the pull of her world. She fought with all her strength, but the pull was greater. She just managed to catch the last words of Sir Lancelot before her spirit was whirled back into her body waiting in the fairy world.

Annya opened her eyes. She was lying on the ground breathing heavily. The vision took up a great deal of her strength and she wondered how she was able to stay that long. She struggled to get up on her feet and when she did she felt dizzy and had to grab a nearby tree to keep her from falling.

So the humans were going to fight another war. This greatly disturbed Annya, for her world and the mortal world were linked. If one were to suffer, the other would feel its pain. Annya started to fly towards the castle. She must tell this to her father. But she had no idea when there would be a war; the war could break out very soon, or it could take many years.


	2. Two

Two

Willows whiten, as aspens quiver,

Little breezes dusk and shiver

Thro' the wave that runs for ever

By the island in the river

Flowing down to Camelot.

Four grey walls, and four gray towers;

Overlook a space of flowers,

And the silent isle imbowers

The Lady of Shallot.

By the margin, willow-veil'd,

Slide the heavy barges trail'd

By slow horses; and unhail'd

The hallop fitteth silken-sail'd

Skimming down to Camelot:

But who hath seen her wave her hand?

Or at the casement seen her stand?

Or is she known in all the land,

The Lady of Shallot?

Annya flew up to her patio and tried to open the doors that she quickly realized were locked.

_Odd,_ Annya thought, _my patio doors are never locked._

She made her wings buzz again, and flew down to the front gates of her castle. The guards at the gates saw her and opened them. The Grand Hall was deserted.

_What's going on? This place is usually filled with flying fairies doing work, and why is it so dark? _Annya thought. But for some reason she could feel something looking at her, she could feel the presence of other things in the hall. All of a sudden a circle of tall candles on the floor was lit; and in the centre of the candles was a boy fairy and a girl fairy with a flute. The girl started to blow air into the flute and the other fairy started to sing the fairy Happy Birthday.

Beautiful music started to bounce off the walls with the language of the fairies.

Menses dis octavis sogestes elarvado feber

_Sol balvs minsis dis maia febar duno iviela._

_Februa herbst sol junis octavis febar salix_

_Monat dis elarvado salix maia menses aovitur._

Menses dis octavis sogestes elarvado feber

_Sol balvs minsis dis maia febar duno iviela._

_Februa herbst sol junis octavis febar salix_

_Monat dis elarvado salix maia menses aovitur._

When the song was complete, tears of happiness wanted to burst out of Annya's eyes. All the candles in the Grand Hall were lit and Annya's eyes started to search the huge crowd of fairies that were clapping and cheering. All of a sudden, Annya started to run towards one of the older male fairies and flung her arms around him.

"Oh, thank-you, Father! Thank-you so much!" Annya said to her father.

"Not a problem at all, my child. After all, it _is_ a very special birthday for you." Annya's father chuckled. Annya just nodded. Her father's name was Febar. He seemed to have taken his wife's death very well for he was always jolly and fun to be around; he looked especially happy today. "Come, come. Let us sit and feast." Febar clapped his hands three times and all the fairies started to walk towards very long tables. From a birds eye view, they were all set up vertically, except for one at the front where the royalty sat.

As soon as everyone was seated, servants started to bring in exotic food. There was a swan that had been plucked, cooked, and had all its feathers put back on in the exact place where they had been before. It was carried in on a crystal bowl, filled with water to make it seem as if it were swimming. There were also sucking pigs and a peacock and all other sorts of interesting food, all beautifully decorated.

As soon as the food was placed on the table, everyone began to eat. They were all feasting happily when Yara, seated beside Febar, started to tap her diamond glass so that it rang through the whole hall.

Annya hated Yara. She was 340 years old – a few years younger than Serifenna, had Annya's mother been alive. Yara was always jealous of Serifenna, for Yara wanted to marry Febar, and when Annya was born, Yara was especially mean to Annya. Since Yara couldn't take her anger out on Serifenna, she took it out on Annya because Annya was nearly the exact copy of Serifenna.

Annya shifted her weight in her golden chair as a memory of Yara went through her mind.

_Annya was in her gorgeous backyard, swinging on her oak swing throwing her glass cat while she swung. The cat was Annya's most favourite toy. It was as long as an adult's hand and half as wide a hand. The cat was carved to perfection. It looked so real. Its eyes were half closed, its face calm. It was Annya's friend and toy, and she loved it._

_While Annya was swinging, she dropped her cat and it fell on the grass with a soft thud. Horrified that it might be broken, she jumped off her swing to its rescue. She crouched down in the grass, gently picked up her cat with tender fingers, and examined every inch of it to make sure that it wasn't scratched or chipped in any way. While investigating her precious kitten, she didn't notice Yara creeping up on her. All of a sudden, Annya's cat was under a foot. Annya jumped up in alarm. She looked up at the person who held her cat hostage. Annya saw Yara smiling sinisterly smile at her. _

"_Give me back my cat," Annya said firmly._

"_Annya, that is no way to talk to an elder. Say you're sorry."_

"_Why? You took my cat in the first place. I have a right to be angry with you. Give me back my cat."_

"_Poor kitty is going to die if you don't say that you're sorry." Yara started to push the cat into the ground with her foot and small tinkling sound could be heard._

"_Alright!" Annya screamed. "Alright, I'm sorry."_

"_Why, you stupid child! Yelling won't solve anything. Look at this rock," Yara bent down to pick up a rock the size of a large marble. "It doesn't yell even if I drop it like this." Yara took aim with the rock, removed her foot from the cat, and dropped the rock right on its head. The glass shattered into a thousand pieces, and Annya let out a muffled scream._

"_Oops. Clumsy me. Take better care of your toys, Annya." Yara said. As she started to walk away, she turned back and said to Annya "Oh, and Annya, I think it would be a good idea if you didn't tell anyone about this, or else _someone_ might get hurt again."_

_Annya just sat on the grass cradling her broken friend in her tiny hands. Her vision started to blur as tears started to build in her eyes. Her best friend was crushed. Anger started to build inside of her and she gripped the stone that Yara dropped on her cat. She looked at Yara walking away from her. She wanted to hurt her. She got up, and smoothed the stone with her thumb. She brought her right arm back to throw it at Yara, but she let the stone slip from her hand and onto the ground. It wasn't worth it; Yara would find some way to get back at her even more. Annya lay down in the cool grass and let a single tear slide down her cheek._

Oh yes, how Annya hated her. Even to this day Annya did not tell anyone of what Yara did to her because she did not feel it necessary; but she still hated Yara with a passion.

The fairies became silent as the ringing stopped and Febar stood up.

"Good evening my dear fairy friends! Today is a great day." A cheer went up from the fairies, but died quickly when Febar raised his hand to silence them. "As you all know, my former wife, Serifenna, died of a terrible and rare disease." There were some groans as the memory of Serifinna came back into their minds. "Yes, I know, it pains me the most. But we must all move on. We cannot let the past stop our lives. That is why I have decided to have a double wedding with Annya." Febar smiled down at Annya and she looked back at him with a wondering face.

There were gasps and whispers from the fairies, but they became silent when Febar started to talk. ""But, of course, I could only do this with the approval of my dear daughter Annya. So, Annya, am I allowed to marry Yara?"

Annya froze. _Her?_ Was Annya's first thought. Yara fluttered her wings with the agitation of having such a young fairy approve of her marriage to Febar. No one but Annya saw, for everyone was staring at Annya, waiting of her answer. Annya looked at her father's face, trying to see if he was asking her to get him out of this mess. Nothing; he was really truly asking Annya if he could marry Yara.

Annya's mind started to buzz. Did she really want Yara as her stepmother? Most definitely not. But at the same time, Febar had suffered so much since Serifenna's death. How could she not let Febar have some happiness in his life again?

"I need some time to think about it. May I be excused?"

"Of course, dear," came Yara's voice sweetly. Annya could tell that her face burned with anger of having Annya approve of her marriage to Febar. Annya had to give her credit, for she was good at hiding her emotions. Yara was obviously being since to her so that Annya would approve of Yara's marriage to Febar. "Of course. I think anyone would need some time alone. After all, this _is_ a big decision that you're going to make." Yara added a little stress on the last line as if she were saying: screw this up and you'll wish you were dead! "Take all the time you need, deary."

Annya got up and left. When she turned around to take a peek at Febar to see how he had reacted to her response, he was expressionless and just put his arm around Yara. Annya shivered and her wings started to quiver. That was a ghastly sight.

Annya walked slowly up the stairs to her bedchamber. She slowly opened the door to her bedroom and fell on her bed. She grabbed one of her many pillows on her bed and started to hug it. Tears formed in her eyes and ran down her cheek. It was too much to absorb at once: her marriage and her father's marriage. But why Yara? It could have been another fairy in the kingdom, but Yara… Why? Why? Why? All of a sudden Annya felt a rush of anger. She hated Febar for wanting to marry Yara and she hated Yara for making her life miserable. Didn't Febar understand that she was going through a lot of stress and that his marriage wouldn't help? Didn't he understand that the thought of having a stepmother would bring back memories of Serifinna? No, she mustn't think of her mother; it hurt too much.

Annya couldn't take it, she needed out, to go somewhere to rest her mind away from the buzzing palace and away from any fairy. The mortal world, of course! She could stay there for a while. Yes, it was perfect.

Annya opened her patio doors and called upon the stars to take her to the mortal world. Her surroundings started to spin and she closed her eyes to try to ward off the dizziness she was starting to feel. She felt herself being lifted off the ground and then she was hurtling at extreme speeds through the sky. She was gaining speed incredibly fast. Then she felt herself slow down and it felt like she was trying to break through a wall. She kept being pushed against it, then finally it broke and she felt solid ground under her feet. She fell to the ground from exhaustion from. She lay there and slept.


	3. Three

Three

Only reapers, reaping early

In among the bearded barley,

Hear a song that echoes cheerly

From the river winding clearly,

Down to tower'd Camelot:

And by the moon the reaper weary,

Piling sheaves in uplands airy,

Listening, whispers "Tis the fairy

Lady of Shalott"

When Annya opened her eyes from the long sleep, it was dark. She did not find the mortal world to be as peaceful as she expected. She had apparently slept in a tree and from her height advantage, she could see many men with torches with burning red flames at the top. They had all sorts of terrible, frightening weapons and they were using them to destroy everything in their path – including the tree Annya was standing on.

The men threw down at least ten flaming torches at the base of the tree. The tree was very dry and quickly caught aflame. Annya didn't panic because she knew she could fly away. Annya began flutter her wings, but she did not start to fly. She tried her wings again, but nothing moved – she didn't have her wings! The flames began to lick her ankles, and she panicked.

The fire easily burned her delicate skin and she started to climb higher up the flaming tree. There was so much smoke that it soon became hard for Annya to see the branches in front of her. Annya shut her eyes and buried her face in her arm. The heat was so great and the smoke stung her eyes. It became harder of her to breath. The thick smoke swallowed her up, and she started to cough and gasp for air. Annya started to feel dizzy. She tried to climb just a bit highe,r but she grabbed a branch that was on fire and she immediately let go. Annya lost her balance and fell through the air. She let out a piercing scream as she tumbled through the branches.

Annya was terrified, for she knew that she would soon fall through the scorching flames. She blindly flung out her arms in a desperate attempt to grab something. Her hand whacked a branch and she quickly grasped it, but that was a huge mistake. She was falling so fast through the air that the sudden stop pulled on her arm so hard that it became dislocated. Annya heard a pop and let out a hoarse scream. Her hand was ripped from the branch and she flipped and smacked her head against a hard, spiny branch.

Black. Everything went black, and the pain stopped.

Something was soft underneath Annya. It felt silky. She had a head splitting headache. A hot rush of pain seeped up to her shoulder and antagonized her. Annya saw a ceiling made of huge thick stones. She looked to her right and there was a man staring right back at her lying in a different bed beside her. She saw a white bandage wrapped around his stomach. She could see that on his right side the cloth was stained with much blood. There were lots of other cuts on his upper body

"Hi," The stranger said the Annya.

"Oh, hello." Annya's voice sounded pathetic to her. It was raspy and hardly made any sound. When she spoke she could feel dirt in her mouth.

"What happened to you? Those are some pretty nasty burn. And your forehead!"

Annya's good arm slowly rose to feel the wound that was on her head. "I-I was in a tree when it was burned down."

"You were in a tree! What were you doing up there?" Steps could be heard before Annya could answer. The steps echoed throughout the room and made Annya's head throb with pain.

"Now, now, Cashmere. Don't bother the poor lady. She must have a huge headache and be very sore." Annya looked into the face of the person who owned the sounds of the footsteps. He had icy blue eyes, and his golden-blond hair was blown back from the wind of him walking. It was Sir Lancelot! Annya's body went stiff – small beads of cold sweat started to form around her hairline. "I'm terribly sorry for keeping you here. We didn't have enough room anywhere else, but we do now. You'll have a room of your own. My room, actually; but that is only because I was asked to take care of you. So, um, shall we go?"

Annya tried to get up, pushing herself with her right arm. Pain shot up to her shoulder and she fell back into the bed with a gasp of pain. Sir Lancelot rushed to her side and said, "Don't try to get up, I'll carry you."

Annya felt his powerful arms lift her from the bed.

"You're so light." Sir Lancelot said as he carried Annya down the hallway. "You are like but a cloud." Annya felt herself go hot. She wanted to say something in return, but found that she didn't know what to say. But Sir Lancelot saved her by asking her a question.

"I am just really curious of your reason to be up in a tree while the warning was given out that we were under attack."

"Well," Annya started, "I, umm, I wanted to see for myself if we were truly being attacked. So I climbed a tree to see if people were coming."

Annya felt Sir Lancelot's muscles tighten beneath her. They turned a corner and Annya's feet whacked into the wall, but Sir Lancelot did not seem to notice.

"You do not believe what the king himself says? You then do not trust his kingdom?" asked Sir Lancelot rather harshly.

"No! No, I meant nothing like that. What I meant to say is that, well, I like to see things for myself. I have always been like that. It's not that I don't trust Arthur - I would trust him with my life - I just wanted to see the men for myself and to see how many there were."

Annya felt Sir Lancelot's arms relax underneath her and he breathed out a sigh. They carried on in silence and Annya could feel Sir Lancelot begin to tire as he walked up a flight of stairs.

"I can walk. I can walk the rest of the way." Annya said.

"I wouldn't dream of letting you do that in your condition. It's fine, I can carry you the rest of the way."

"No, please, I want to walk. I would like to stretch out my legs. They are quite stiff."

"Well, if you insist." Sir Lancelot set Annya down very gently, but did not let go of her arm in case she fell. "It's not much longer anyway. Just down this hallway, to the left, a bit more walking, and we're there!"

Annya giggled. Sir Lancelot seemed so energetic. Annya kept looking at his fair face while she walked down the hall.

_He's so good looking!_ Annya thought to herself.

"Here we are. Hold on to the wall while I open the door. I don't want you to fall down on the hard stone." Lancelot led her to the wall and made sure that she wouldn't fall and then let go of her arm to unlock the door. He took out an ancient looking key from the pouch around his neck. He put the key into the slot, turned a wheel-shaped handle, and opened the door. Then he went back to get Annya, who was still leaning on the wall.

"Are you sure you don't need to be carried? Sir Lancelot asked.

"Yes, I'm quite sure, thank-you. It's only a little way anyways." Sir Lancelot nodded in response and took her good arm gently to lead her into the room.

The room was small for someone of such great importance as Sir Lancelot, but it was very nicely decorated. There was a bear rug at the foot of the bed in the middle of the room. The bed sheet, blanket, and pillow were both made of silk and were ocean blue with gold weaved through it. The room was a tower so the walls were curved. There were three windows - one on either side and one in the middle right above the bed. There were two night tables on either side of the bed and a wooden closet with marble handles. There was a desk near a window with a chair pushed into it.

Sir Lancelot brought Annya to the bed and helped her lay down.

"Is there anything that you need before I leave?" asked Sir Lancelot.

"No, thank-you. You have ever been so kind to me, but maybe you could keep me company a while for I fear that I am very isolated here."

"Very well, I shall stay and chat a while." Sir Lancelot pulled up the chair from the desk and placed it at the bedside. "I do not know your name."

"Yes, my name. It is Annya. And what is your name?"

"You do not know me?"

"I fear I do not." Annya grinned. She loved teasing.

"Why, Lady Annya, I mean not to boast, but if you do not know me, are you sure that you have lived here?"

"I have lived here, but because your name may be well known does not mean that the person who knows the name knows the man."

"True. My dear Lady Annya, have you heard of the name 'Lancelot'?"

"That I have. Are you he?"

"That I am."

"And, Sir Lancelot, how old are you?"

"I am twenty-four."

"None but a young man."

"In age, yes, but not in maturity. If it were maturity, I am thirty-four. And what age you are?"

Annya paused. She could not tell Sir Lancelot her real age for her age had never been heard of in the mortal world. "I am the same age as you." Annya answered.

"Who are your father and mother?"

Annya thought quickly. "I have none. They died when I was twelve. I have been fending for myself."

"Oh. Why, may I ask, are you wearing an exquisite gown that must have cost much money?"

Annya's eyes started to become watery as the memory of her mother came back to her. "My mother made it for me before she died." Which was true. The dress was her mother's good-bye gift. But now it was ruined; it was burnt and had lost its gleam. It was destroyed - her most valuable possession, her mother's last gift.

"I'm terribly sorry; I did not mean to upset you." When Annya did not answer, he got up to leave.

"No, wait." Annya said. "I'm sorry, it's childish for me to act like this and I should be over it by now. You may stay if you want."

Sir Lancelot sighed. "My dear Lady Annya, I have already stayed here too long. The sun is setting and I am needed at the round table. It has been a pleasure talking to you and I look forward to our next chat." Sir Lancelot bowed and left the room.

Annya cleared her throat and lay down on the soft pillows. She ran a hand up and down one of the pillows feeling the silkiness. She stared up at the ceiling – she was confused. What was this feeling she was going through? It was nothing that she had ever felt before. It was strange. It was like she felt so good, but at the same time sad. Annya rolled over to her left. She knew the one word that summed up her feelings – love.


	4. Four

**Chapter Four**

There she weaves by night and day

A magic web with colours gay.

She has heard a whisper say,

A curse is on her if she stay

To look down to Camelot.

She knows not what the cure may be,

And so she weaveth steadily,

And little other care hath she,

The Lady of Shalott.

Annya woke up to the sound of things tinkling together. She slowly sat up and looked to see who had come into her room. It was Sir Lancelot carrying a tray of food and a small glass bottle containing a green ointment. Tucked underneath his left arm was a bundle that was tightly wrapped. He placed the bundle at the foot of the bed Annya was lying on.

"Good-morning. I hope you slept well?" Sir Lancelot said as he smiled at her. He strode across the room in a few easy strides and placed the stray on the nightstand.

"I did, thank-you. And yourself?"

"Not too well, I fear. Matters with these people who have been attacking us kept me awake."

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry. You must be exhausted."

"I am. But that is alright." Sir Lancelot paused as he reached over to the tray and held up the green liquid. "I am, umm… I have to…" Sir Lancelot started to blush; "I have to put this on you for your burns."

"Oh." Was all that Annya said.

"Umm, yes. I also have new clothes for you because your dress that you're wearing right now had been burned." Sir Lancelot unwrapped the package he put on Annya's bed. In it contained a deep red dress with light red threads sewn on it in a beautiful pattern. It was a long sleeved dress and the sleeves opened up in a triangle shape. The bottom of the dress touched the floor and the bottom back was longer than the front so it would drag behind Annya as she walked. The back of the dress was open from her shoulders to her lower back. There was the light red thread that was weaved in a pattern across the opening.

"King Arthur asked me to give you this dress. He wants you to wear it for dinner to night. But now, umm, I, err, have to put the ointment on you."

"Oh yes. I thank you very much for the dress. It is lovely." Annya sat on the edge of the bed and gathered her gold hair over her left shoulder so Sir Lancelot could rub the ointment on the burns on her back.

He sat beside Annya on the bed and started to pull down the back of Annya's dress. She looked at Sir Lancelot's face and he was bright red and looked very uncomfortable. Sir Lancelot shook the bottle and poured some of its contents onto his hand. It was a think green liquid that smelled like a mixture of spices. He rubbed his hands together to get the liquid on both hands. He placed one hand on Annya's back and began to rub the ointment onto Annya's burns.

Annya sat up straighter and inhaled sharply when the freezing cold liquid touched her pale skin.

"Sorry, I should have told you that it was cold." Sir Lancelot said as he kept on rubbing the ointment into Annya's back.

"That's ok, at least it's doing me _some_ good."

Sir Lancelot breathed out a laugh. Annya concentrated on the feel of Sir Lancelot's hands on her back. His hands were warm and muscular. The way Sir Lancelot rubbed her back felt like a massage to Annya and she closed her eyes half way. She enjoyed the touch of Sir Lancelot.

When he had finished her back, he started on her arms. He did the left on first, as it was not the one that pained Annya, and then he did her right arm very gently.

"I…I need to do your legs, "Sir Lancelot said. "I need you to, umm, well," Sir Lancelot started to blush, "to roll up your dress."

"Sir Lancelot, I can manage myself now. I would not have been able to do my back and arms, but now I can do the rest." Annya said, saving Sir Lancelot from a lot of discomfort. She touched his broad shoulder gently.

"I thank you, Annya." Lancelot said her name as if it were a foreign word he was trying out. "After you are finished, a servant will be waiting for you outside to show you around the castle so you will know your way around if you need anything." Sir Lancelot walked to the door and opened it a bit and then turned his head back to Annya and said; "And I would advise you to put on the dress King Arthur gave you." He said with a smile.

"I thank you again for all that you have done for me, Sir Lancelot."

"Lancelot. Lancelot will do just fine; no need for 'Sir'." And he walked out of the room.

Annya's insides seemed to melt.

_Does Lancelot love me back?_ She asked herself. She didn't know. He had just given her the privilege of calling him Lancelot without the 'Sir'. But did that mean anything?

Annya sighed and put the rest of the ointment on herself. She changed into the red dress and folded her own dress and put it on her bed. She ate a bit of the food Lancelot had brought in for her on the tray and she gratefully drank the water as she was parched. She put the glass down and walked towards the door and opened it and there was the servant. He had short dark brown hair and brown eyes. He looked to be a boy of age twelve. He was a bit shorter than Annya and was skinny and seemed full of life. He looked as if he were always happy.

The servant bowed his head and said: "Lady Annya, I have been instructed by Sir Lancelot to show you around the castle. My name is Merloc and I will be your servant while you are here."

"Hello Merloc. I look forward to getting to know you better."

Merloc smiled. "Thank you, Lady Annya. As do I. Lady Annya, where would you like to begin your tour around the castle?"

"I don't know, Merloc," Annya giggled. "You tell me what your favourite part of the castle is and we'll start there."

"Are you sure, Lady Annya? Not all the places that I like are very clean."

"Yes, I'm sure, Merloc." Annya laughed. Merloc formed his face into a face of deep concentration and thinking. He tapped his index finger to his lips as he thought. Then his face lit up as an idea came to him.

"Do you like horses, Lady Annya?"

"Very much so."

"Then we shall start at the stables!" he nearly shouted. He immediately then realized that he was being to forward and said: "If that's alright with you, that is. I'm sorry, I did not mean to yell; I got excited."

Annya smiled sweetly and said: "Ha. Ha. I'm not the least bit angry. To the stables we shall go!" And she raised her good arm in the air as if she were leading an army to go forward.

Delighted that Annya was making this a game, Merloc grabbed Annya's left hand and started to walk forward.

"On ward we shall go! Our enemy awaits us at the stables. Fear not, dear Lady, I shall protect you." Merloc said with a lot of drama.

"I know I will be safe with you, good Lord. Let us meet our deadly enemy."

Annya was feeling so lively with Merloc that she had forgotten how tired she was or how much pain she was in and followed Merloc with a happy heart as she skipped along the halls holding Merloc's hand.

Merloc knew the castle as well as he knew his name. While he was walking he would mumble to himself what halls and stairs he should take to make it to the stables in the shortest time.

When they arrived at the stables, they would dart in and out, and behind hay barrels, polls, and doors. Merloc found two sticks and they played sword fighting for a bit. When they became tired, Merloc showed Annya the most valuable horses King Arthur had.

After the stables Merloc showed Annya where the hole was in case she needed to use it; but they did not stay there long because of the disgusting smell. Next, Merloc took Annya to the kitchen. It smelled delicious as the cooks were preparing a feast for King Arthur and the knights. Annya stole a few tastes here and there. Then Merloc took Annya to his next favourite place – the area where the knights are trained and where they practice. No one was practicing at that moment and Annya was glad of it. Merloc showed her the pretend horse to practice lancing on. Annya got on the horse and Merloc pushed her forward towards the fake knight on the other side of the room. After that, Merloc said he would take Annya back to her room so that she could get ready for the dinner with King Arthur and his main knights.

They walked slowly back up to Annya's room for both were tired. When they came to the door of Annya's room, Merloc asked: "Do you want me to wait outside for you so that I may escort you to the round table, Lady Annya?"

"No, it's quite alright," Annya said, seeing that Merloc really wanted to go play with his friends. "I will be able to manage. Thank-you for the wonderful time, Merloc." Annya bent down and wrapped her good arm around Merloc in a hug.

Merloc had a huge grin on his face when Annya let go and he bowed his head and ran off.

Annya went inside her room to clean up. There was a basin of water and a towel in her room and she splashed her face with the icy water. That sure woke her up. She then started to comb her hair. She couldn't put her hair up because of her shoulder, so she left it draped over her shoulders and back. While she combed she found pieces of straw in her hair. She then dusted off the dress she was wearing.

When she was done, she went down the halls towards the round table. To get there she had to walk through the same hall she saw in her vision. She stopped a moment to look more closely at the paintings. There was so much detail put into it that it must have taken a very long time to complete.

Annya walked on towards the round table taking the paths she remembered from her vision. When Annya arrived at the two wooden doors, she wished that she had asked Merloc to accompany her to the round table. She felt her insides go mushy. She didn't know anyone (besides Lancelot) who she would be eating with. What if she went in and no one noticed her come in, what would she do then? Just walk around and do nothing?

_Oh well, better go in and hope for the best. Lancelot said that king Arthur wanted me to come to dinner tonight; so did Merloc._ Annya thought

Two knights by the wooden doors saw Annya coming down the hall and they slowly started to open the doors for her. As the doors creaked open, Annya could smell the food that was coming from inside and her mouth started to water. She could feel the heat from inside the room bursting from the cracks of the doors to escape. Laughing and chattering could be heard, and she could barley make out the muffled sound from the kitchen.

As the doors opened wider and more light streamed in through the opening, the room behind the doors started to come to a hush. Annya could feel the gazes looking at the opening doors, waiting to see who was coming in. Only when the doors were fully open did the knights usher Annya in.

Annya walked into the hot, bright room full of strangers. As soon as everyone could see her she heard someone say: "Ah! This must be Annya!" said a loud booming voice. The voice sounded kind and happy with lots of leadership dripping from it. A chair could be heard scrapping across the floor and Annya scanned the round table looking for the one who was getting up. She saw a tall man with dark brown hair and brown eyes get up and walk towards her. He was quite tall but rather skinny. As Annya looked closer, she realized that it was king Arthur walking to wards her! Annya slowed down her pace. Should she walk towards him? Should she stay where she was? Annya's questions were soon answered when King Arthur came up to her and introduced himself.

"Hello, Annya! Lancelot has told me your name so that's why I know it. He also told me all that other stuff of why you're here and what happened to you." King Arthur put his hand on Annya's back. "Come, come. Sit down and eat. I will introduce you to the other knights." King Arthur gently pushed Annya forward and guided her to her chair.

As Annya walked towards the empty chair beside Lancelot, she could feel the eyes of all the other knights on her. King Arthur moved her chair back and then pushed it forward as she sat. King Arthur went back to his own chair and almost immediately servants came and filled the gold wine goblets with red wine that were beside the plates. King Arthur rose and raised his goblet.

"A toast!" he said. "Long live the people of Camelott and to all the knights that protect all within the walls of Camelott. And to Lady Annya, long life and good fortune to you!"

A chorus of 'here here!' s went up and the knights and Annya drank the sweet red wine. When the toast was done, servants from the kitchen started to bring in the dinner.

There was an assortment of foods being brought to the table. There was roast turkey and chicken dripping with gravy. There was turkey stuffing full of spices. Raw vegetables were brought in on a huge plate and were assorted to look like a giant flower with a dip in the middle. All this food reminded Annya of the feast she missed out on in her world. But that was ok; this feast looked just as good, but not as expensive.

"Dig in!" King Arthur said as he reached over for a knife and started to cut off a turkey leg for himself.

As the food was passed around the table, it was not long before that Annya's plate was full of steaming food. Annya started to delicately cut her food. As she cut the turkey, juice started to pour out from it and Annya's mouth started to water. She put the turkey piece into her mouth and she could feel the warm sticky juice and gravy slither their way down her throat. As she chewed, more juice squirted out from the turkey piece making Annya's mouth burst with flavour.

"Are you enjoying the dinner?" asked a voice to Annya's left. She looked and saw Lancelot looking at her.

"Very much so, yourself?" she replied.

"Oh, King Arthur's dinners are by far the best meals ever." Lancelot took a spoonful of the turkey stuffing and chewed intently. "You see that knight over there?" He nodded his head across the table pointing out the knight.

"The one drinking from his goblet right now?"

"Yeah, him. He's Tivan, our best horse rider."

Annya looked at the knight closely. He had very light brown hair; so light that it was almost dirty blond. His eyes were large and a deep blue that made Annya have a feeling that if she looked at them too long, she would become swallowed up in his eyes. He had high check bones and a pointy nose. His skin was nicely tanned and on his face ran a ropy scar from near the tip of his right eye down to the corner of his lips.

"Where did he get that scar?" Annya asked Lancelot almost in a whisper.

"Oh, that. Well, surprisingly that is not battle scar. He got that when he was a child. His father was a drunk and always beat him and his mother. They were a poor family not getting much from the farm that they had. Well anyways, his dad came home one night with alcohol reeking from his breath. He got so upset that they were so poor and that it was Tivan's fault that they had no money because Tivan didn't work hard enough on the farm. So upset his father got that his father got a knife and was seriously about to kill Tivan, but he only managed to get his face. That scar on Tivan's face is there to stay."

"Oh, that's terrible! What did Tivan do about it?"

"Well, every time he had his dad got into a fight, Tivan would take out a horse and ride it for a long time. That's how he got so good at riding. But that time, he decided that that was enough. So he packed a few of his belongings, told his mother that he was going and that she should get away from his dad as soon as she could, saddled a horse and rode here. He started as a stable boy until King Arthur saw how well he could ride. And here he is today as a knight." Lancelot picked up his goblet and drank from it.

Annya just cut her food still taking in the words Lancelot had just told her. How could a father be that cruel to his son? Some people were truly disgusting.

"Oh," Lancelot said. "Nathyrn over there sitting beside King Arthur," he gestured to the knight with is head, "he's our best archer. He can shoot anything out from the sky over a large distance. He has a great arm on him, that he does."

Annya looked at the knight who was comfortably chatting away with King Arthur. This first thing that she noticed was his jet-black hair. The second thing that she noticed was his icy blue eyes. His eyes seemed full of everything but mercy. It seemed that he could almost cut through metal with those eyes. Annya looked at the rest of his body. His arms were very muscular. Annya could see that muscle rippling underneath his shirt. They looked steady and young, unlike an old man's arm: shaking and weak. His arms were probably the reason why he was the best archer in King Arthur's kingdom.

While Annya was looking at Nathyrn, something sparkled above King Arthur and caught Annya's eye. When she looked at the thing above King Arthur she saw a sword; not just any sword, but the sword Excalibur.

Annya knew the powers that rested in this sword. King Arthur was unconcerned with Excalibur, and so was anyone else who had possession of the sword and fought with it. It was Camelot's symbol, their pride; with out it, the city would most likely fall apart.

Annya decided to distract herself from the sword and try to humble Lancelot.

"And what about you?" Annya asked Lancelot with a look of mischief on her face.

"What about me?" Lancelot said, eyeing Annya carefully.

"Oh, surly the great Sir Lancelot must be well known for one of his skills. Or is it all your skills that you are known for and therefore the best knight?"

Lancelot smiled as Annya teased him.

"Why narrow a knight down to one of his skills when he triumphs in all?" Lancelot said with a slick smile and a raised eyebrow.

Annya was about to answer him but was cut short as something crashed through the glass ceiling causing the glass to land on the table, upsetting some of the dishes.

Almost as instinct, Annya made herself smaller and covered her head with her arm. When she heard the glass stop falling, she slowly took her arm away from her head.

"Are you alright?" she head Lancelot ask her with concern.

"I'm fine, a bit shaken, but fine. Are you hurt?"

"A but cut, but alright."

Lancelot got up and looked around to see what had been dropped from the sky. The round table was cracked in half and in the centre was a stone about the size of a cartwheel, but many times thicker.

King Arthur was just about to tell one of the guards by the wooden doors to call for others when a voice was heard from above.

"Plunk your ass back down in the chair, Arthur. There'll be no needing to get your other men, we shut those doors from the outside." Boomed the voice.

King Arthur's men were defenceless against this attack. They brought to weapons to dinner.

"Murtag." Kind Arthur said in a loud whisper full of hate.

"Hey! Hey! This ol' chap here remembers me!" said the man on the roof over his shoulder. A chorus of laughing could be heard from outside and Annya knew that there were many of them. "Mind if some of us joins you, Arthur?"

Without waiting for a reply, an abundant amount of ropes came whizzing down from the roof, and Murtag and some of his followers slide down the ropes.

Murtag landed in the middle of the table and picked up a drumstick of a chicken and tore into it with his teeth.

"This is pretty good." Murtag said between bites. "Oh, and a word of advice, I wouldn't try anything stupid because I got archers right up there on the roof."

And sure enough, there were about two-dozen archers lined up around the roof with their bows fitted ready to fire.

Annya looked at Murtag dancing on the table chewing on the meat of the chicken. He was pale, very pale, and that made his black hair and eyes stand our on his face. He was surprisingly short with hardly any muscle on him, yet it seemed that everyone in the room (except for Murtag's followers) feared and hated him.

"Let's make this short, Arthur. Give me Excalibur and I'll leave. If not, I'll have to take it by force and kill some of your knights."

Annya could feel Lancelot shake with anger beside her.

"I told you before never to show your face again in my kingdom." Hissed King Arthur, with fire dancing in his eyes. "And now you come to take Excalibur from me and my people?"

"Well, that _was_ the plan." Murtag cut in.

"This is absurd! Never will you take Excalibur from us! Get out! Get out now!" screamed King Arthur.

"Arthur, honestly, this is no way to treat your guest." Murtag said with a smile, shaking his head disapproving.

King Arthur was beside himself, fuming with rage. Quick as a flash, he grabbed Excalibur above him and charged at Murtag. But Murtag's archers were just as fast and an arrow went through King Arthur's arm. He cried out in pain and dropped Excalibur. He crumpled up on the floor, withering with pain.

"Don't move!" yelled Murtag furiously at the knights who started to rush to their king and others upon Murtag. "Don't move or I'll have arrows strike you clean in the heart!" Murtag said as he swept the room with his eyes, and that's when he saw Annya. As his black eyes fell upon Annya, she felt herself shiver. "Oh look! You were kind enough to bring us a treat!" Murtag nodded to two of his men and Annya felt hands on her arms. She tried to struggle free, but the hands only gripped tighter.

All of a sudden, Lancelot punched one of them men holding Annya in the face. He fell back, clutching his face when the other man let go of Annya and jumped on Lancelot and started to punch him. Annya ran away while more knights and Murtag's men ran to join to fight.

While Annya started to run to the doors, a hand grabbed her arm and swung her around.

"You're not going anywhere, honey." Murtag said with a sinister smile. In his other hand her carried Excalibur. He must have picked it up when everyone started to fight. "And I would advice you not to struggle in case I drop you." Murtag said as he grabbed a rope and pulled Annya closer to him. Annya had no choice but to listen to him and did not try to struggle. She felt Murtag and herself being lifted into the air. They were being lifted to the top of the roof. When they were almost at the top, Annya looked down and felt queasy. She was very high up.

At the top, Annya felt herself being hoisted up onto the top of the roof.

"Look men!" Murtag yelled. "I brought you a present!" And he threw Annya on the ground. 'Ooo's and whistling was heard and Annya gave Murtag the furious look she could give.

_Stay strong_. She thought. _They wont do anything to you. Help will come soon._

A hand started to venture up her leg and she kicked the man in the face. The man yelled in surprise, then said: "Ho, ho! She's feisty! I like that!"

"Not now, men. Work is to be done. Knock her out first; she can't know where we're going.

Annya went stiff. Knock her out?

All of a sudden a club was racing towards her head and struck her true. Pain burst through her head but them subsided as blackness crept over her.


	5. Five

Five

And moving thro' a mirror clear

That hangs before her all year,

Shadows of the world appear.

There she sees the highway near

Winding down to Camelot:

There the river eddy whirls

And there the surly village – churls,

And the red cloaks of the market girls,

Pass onward from Shalott.

A murmur of voices seeped into Annya's mind awakening her. She opened her heavy eyes and the image of a blurred fire with the outline of men sitting around it appeared to her. Her eyes came into focus now, and she could tell that she was deep in a forest at night.

She sat up trying to see more of her surroundings, and she immediately wish that she didn't. Her head sang with pain, and she fell back on the ground with a moan. She lifted her hand to her head to try to dense the pain, and found that her hands were tightly bound together. She checked to see if her feet were tied together by trying to move them apart – they were tied too.

Then she noticed something, her shoulder didn't hurt anymore.

_Did they somehow sure my shoulder?_ Annya thought as she moved it in little circles with ease._ Think of what they could have done to you to cure it from the outside._ But she couldn't – her head hurt too much. Her thoughts were clouded and unclear to her.

Frustrated with herself, she rolled over to a side and squeezed the grass beneath her.

"She's awake!" came a deep voice from the ring around the fire. The air became quiet as all the men stopped talking and turned their attention towards her. Only the cracking of the fire, crickets, an owl's hoot, and someone rustling the leaves and twigs by getting up, were the only sounds heard.

Annya turned around and slowly got up and leaned against a tree near by. A shadowy figure came near her. "How are you feeling?" the figure asked in a mocking tone. His face came nearer to hers; and his breath stank of rum. She answered him by looking in the other direction of his face so that she wouldn't have to smell his breath.

_Oh great._ She thought._ He's drunk._

"Ho! Ho! The lady has some attitude!" he sneered, looking back at his friends as he smiled, and they laughed in response. "Well, you know what?" he said, turning his attention back to Annya. He forced Annya to look at him by turning her chin with his hand. "I like woman with attitude. Makes 'em more fun. Do you want to play with me?"

Without waiting for a reply, he took out a dagger that was hanging in its sheath on his belt. Annya's eyes filled with fear as he drew the knife closer to her face. The icy tip of the blade touched her cheek, and he slowly drew it down the side of her face, but did not cut her. He traced a line down her throat and to the middle of her chest.

Annya's breathing started to increase as she did not know what he was going to do to her.

He brought the dagger down towards her stomach, and made sure that he didn't cut any fabric from the dress. He slid it down to her bound hands and slowly started to cut the rope.

Annya sighed. He wasn't going to kill her – at least, not yet.

"You'll be needing those," he said, and smiled to reveal broken and yellow teeth. "Hands tend to make things more… pleasurable."

Annya looked at him in disgust. Her mind started to buzz as she tried to think of a way to get out of the mess that she was in.

_Do I act like I want to have sex with him? No, that would only encourage him. If I act like I don't want to have sex with him, which I really don't want to have sex with him, will that work? No, he would still do it no matter what. He's too drunk to try to talk my way out of this. O-o-o-h, my head hurts._

After cutting the ropes from her feet, he brought her near the fire. While walking towards the fire, Annya's mind began to burn. She had to get away from this creep. Annya looked up to the heaves to help clear her mind, and she saw the stars twinkling above her. Of course! The stars! She could call upon them to take her back to her world. Would it work though? She had, for some odd reason, physically become a human, but did she still have her powers? Well, it was worth a try.

Annya shut her eyes and called the stars to take her home. She could slowly, very slowly, feel her surroundings start to move around her. But then it just stopped. Annya opened her eyes in wild fright. It didn't work! She looked up at the stars; what was wrong with them? Did they not want her to go home?

_Should I try again?_ She thought. _It's against the law to try again of the stars did not do it the first time. If I try again, I might anger them and the consequences would be terrible. Oh, someone help me!_

Annya felt to warmth of the fire dance around her body. Some of the men were saying: "Save some for me!" or "Don't completely exhaust her!" But then there was a voice that rose above all from the trees. "Holt!" the voice bellowed. "Why are her hands and feet untied?"

Annya scanned the trees to look for the one who owned the voice. In a tree near the camp, on the highest branch that was still strong enough to support a man was Murtag. He was squatting on the branch looking at Holt with his piercing black eyes. Everyone stopped talking as eyes darted back and forth from Holt to Murtag. A deathly silence crept around the camp as they waited for Holt to answer Murtag.

"Answer me, Holt." Murtag said as if her were daring him.

Holt stammered for an answer. "I – I – I thought we could…" Murtag held up a hand and Holt stopped talking. Murtag then stood up on the high branch he was standing on and put a hand on the trunk of the tree and leaned against it.

"Enough said," Murtag retorted, "Where is Excalibur?"

No one said anything, no body moved. They were like statues frozen with fright.

When no one answered him, Murtag took his hand off the tree, stood up straight, and his face changed to pure furry. He jumped off the branch he was standing on and grabbed another branch about ten feet below, and swung himself around it and crouched down on it like a cat about to pounce on a mouse. He then darted to the end of the branch, away from the trunk of the tree, and then jumped off it again and did a summer salt in mid-air while dropping about twenty feet, and then grabbed a small branch with his hands. The branch bent underneath his weight and slowly lowered him to the ground, a few feet away from the crowd of men, where he landed without a sound.

Annya starred at Murtag in awe. Although she hated to admit it, what Murtag did was incredible! Never in her long years of life had she seen anyone do anything of the kind of what Murtag had just done. He had moved with such grace and form that it seemed as simple to him as walking.

Murtag slowly walked towards the men. With each step that he took, the men too half a step back. Annya looked at the men. She saw that they would not look at their leader in the eyes, yet alone anywhere above his feet; which was probably a good thing because Murtag could have killed someone with the look he was giving his men.

"I said, where is Excalibur?" Murtag said, his voice dripping with danger, he started to pace back and forth slowly, starring into the faces of his men. He stopped directly in front of a tall man. The man seemed as if he was capable of tearing a tree apart, but he was quivering under Murtag's gaze. Murtag had to look up to see the man's face, but despite his small size, he was feared. He was inches away from the man's face, and Murtag had to stand on his toes. The tall man was forced to look Murtag in the eyes.

"I said, Morzan, where is Excalibur?" Morzan looked as if he were about to cry.

"Please s-s-sir, it was, t-taken from me." stammered Morzan.

Murtag went back down on his heels and made a sarcastic apologetic face. "Aw-w… it was taken from you." Murtag said sarcastically.

"Y-y-yes sir."

"By what?" Murtag's voice had gone back to its dangerous tone.

"Please s-sir." Morzan now started to sweat.

"I asked you by what!" screamed Murtag.

"A tree, sir." Morzan now started to whimper. Murtag put his hands behind his back.

"A tree," Murtag said as if he were pondering what Morzan just told him. "A tree," he repeated. He now started to pace in front of Morzan. "Did you just say a tree?"

"Yes sir."

"A tree." Murtag said dangerously. "Can someone please tell me how on earth a tree can take a sword from a man?" he screamed, flaying his arms all over the place.

"Please sir. This forest in enchanted." Morzan said in a barely audible voice.

"Oh, so now that changes everything! Some hocus-pocus tree was able to take Excalibur from you?" Murtag now screamed at all his men and not just Morzan. "Do you realize how much time went into the planning of stealing Excalibur? What about the cost to equip all of you with weapons? H-m-m-m? What about taking over Camelot? And you just let some stupid magic tree take a sword from you? Not just any sword, may I remind you, but Excalibur! The most powerful and well known sword throughout the world! And you lost it?"

Murtag was fuming, and the men were cowering. And to help prove his point, Murtag grabbed a sword from one of his quivering men, and threw it at the tree was previously standing on. He threw the sword with such force and rage that it sank about four inches into the hard trunk of the tree. Murtag whirled around after he threw the sword and held all of his men in the fatal stare he was giving them.

"Oh no! Now the tree is going to come and hurt me!" Murtag yelled. "Isn't that right? Because the forest is 'magical' and the tree is now going to come and kill me!" Murtag looked at his men and saw that Annya was untied.

"Holt!" shrieked Murtag. Holt's grip on Annya became tighter and Annya felt the sweat on his hands. "Why the hell is she untied?"

Holt made a confused face, as Murtag had just asked him that same question. He opened his mouth to tell Murtag this, but quickly shut it – he knew better than to further upset Murtag. The aftermath could be terrible.

"I'll tie her up, sir." Holt answered Murtag. He took two long pieces of rope that was hanging from his belt and quickly tied Annya's hands behind her back. He roughly grabbed one of her arms and led her back to where she was before.

Murtag was still ragging at his men for losing Excalibur. Holt threw Annya to the ground, and started to swear and cuss as he tied her feet and another rope around her hands, and tied that to a tree. Holt then stood up and looked at Annya angrily, as if she had caused Murtag to be furious. He swore once more and kicked Annya in the stomach and walked away.

The kick winded her, and she rolled up in a ball, trying to breath. She tried to take in gulps of air, but she couldn't breath – it was as if she had forgotten how to. Her lungs started to beg for air, and finally she was able to inhale. She lay on the ground sucking in the air greedily. She started to cough and hot tears came down her face. When her breathing came back to normal, she started to groan. That kick had hurt! She shut her eyes and tried to make the pain go away.

She thought back to all she had heard when Murtag was screaming at his men. 'Where is Excalibur?' rang the deadly voice of Murtag in Annya's mind. So they did not have Excalibur – that was good. But where was it then? 'A tree, s-s-sir.' Morzan's voice stammered. A tree? But how on earth could a tree take a sword? 'Magical.' Came a voice in her head. A magical tree? Was the forest magical? What forest was she in anyway? But that didn't really matter right now. Why did they want Excalibur? 'How do you expect us to take over Camelot?' came Murtag's voice.

All of a sudden, Annya was brought out of her thoughts as a hand clasped over her mouth. Before she could let out a scream, she felt a face brush up against hers.

"S-h-h-h. It's Ok! It's me; it's just me." Came a familiar voice.

Annya turned her head and found herself looking into the eyes of Lancelot. He slowly lowered his hand from her mouth.

"Are you alright?" he whispered.

"I think so."

"I saw him kick you." Lancelot said angrily.

"Yes, but I'm alright."

"Ok, don't move or make any sounds. I'm going to get you out of this dreadful place." Lancelot disappeared behind the tree that Annya was leaning against, and Annya heard him take his dagger out of its sheath. He quickly, but quietly, began to cut the ropes. After he finished with her hands, he said to her, "I cannot cut the rope from your feet, or I will for sure be seen for venturing out into the open. Here's my dagger," Annya felt him place the smooth hilt of the dagger into her hands. "You need to cut the rope yourself."

Annya looked at the men huddled around the fire eating. They were quiet as Murtag had finally stopped yelling at them and he stormed off into the forest. The men seemed to just stare into the fire and would not pay any attention to Annya. But just incase the would happen to look her way, she lay down with her back to them and made herself as small as she could so that her feet would be close to her hands.

The blade was well kept and easily cut through the roped binding her feet together.

"Are you done?" came Lancelot's low voice from behind the tree.

"Yes."

"Now, slowly sit up with your legs underneath you and wait a few moments."

Annya obeyed him, and by doing so, brought no attention to herself.

"Now slowly crouch and come behind this tree." Annya slowly got up so she was crouching very low to the ground and she tried to take little unnoticed steps to get behind the tree. Annya wobbled horribly on her bent legs, and she thought for sure that she would fall down; but thankfully she didn't fall.

Once behind the tree, Lancelot motioned to her to stand up. He started to creep back into the bushed, and he chose his path carefully so to make as little noise as possible. Annya followed his exact steps and didn't make a sound.

As soon as they were hidden by the thick leaves around them, Lancelot took Annya's hand and began to run. They ran until a road showed up, where Lancelot had left his horse. Lancelot's horse was a blood bay with a blaze down his face. Annya recognized the horse as the one she had seen in her vision.

"Hurry, Lady Annya. They might soon discover that you are missing."

Annya stepped on the stool Lancelot made by cupping his hands and placing them on his knee. He boosted Annya up into the beautiful saddle and then jumped on his horse behind Annya.

"Hold on tight." He said to Annya. Annya wrapped her figures in the horse's silky mane and Lancelot dug his heels into the sides of his horse.

Lancelot kept clucking and urging his horse to go faster. The horse pounded his hooves into the ground as the trees went whizzing by. Finally, Lancelot reined in his rose to a walk. They arrived at a cave with a small stream running near by.

Lancelot dismounted his steaming horse and helped Annya get off. He took off his horse's saddle and but it at the mouth of the cave.

"Where are we?" Annya asked in awe.

"Oh, just a place I discovered when I was injured. Come inside the cave and I'll make a fire, then we can talk." Lancelot took off his horses' bridle, and the horse went to graze.

Lancelot picked up the saddle as they walked into the damp cave. Annya saw that Lancelot had some wood ready in the centre of the cave. He went to go sit on the dirt ground and took out a small metal box that was in one of the pouches on the saddle. He opened it and carefully dumped its contents onto the wood. It was coal that had been already used and was still hot. Lancelot quickly took some dry grass near by and placed it on top of the coal and blew on it. Very soon, the grass started to crack and became ablaze and the wood caught the sparks and soon the flames were leaping off the wood.

Annya went down to go sit on the opposite side of the fire. She sat down on the cold dirt and brought her knees up to her chest and began to hug them. She stared into the fire with empty eyes. Lancelot started to rummage around in the bags that he had brought in the cave before. He found some bread in the bag and broke it in half and offered one half to Annya.

Annya's stomach rumbled as she saw the bread. She realized that she hadn't eaten since the feast in King Arthur's castle. How long ago was that? Had she been knocked out for a day? More?

Annya graciously took the bread from Lancelot's outstretched hand as her stomach started to whine. She ate her bread slowly, to savor the taste and to not be the first one to speak. When she finished her piece of bread, Lancelot spoke.

"Was the bread ok? He asked.

"Yes, it was filling, thank-you."

There was an awkward pause as neither knew what else to say. Finally, Annya asked, "How long has it been since I was gone?"

"About three days."

"Three days?" Annya asked in shock.

"Yes, three days."

"But… but… how?" Annya asked, very confused.

"I don't really know what you mean because I have only seen you this night and not the others, for I was trying to catch up to Murtag's men. So I have really no idea what has happened to you since."

"You sure it has been three days since the feast at King Arthur's castle?" Lancelot just nodded his blond head. "If that is the case," Annya continued. "I could not have been knocked out for three days; half a day at the most."

"They knocked you out?" asked Lancelot with no emotion. Annya nodded her head. "Move a little closer to the fire." Annya shuffled closer to the fire.

Lancelot's eyes darted to Annya's forehead, and then he crawled over to her so he wouldn't have to get up. He kneeled beside her and put his hands in her hair and began to run his figures over the top of her head. He then sat down and speared his lags out in front of him and leaned back on the palms of his hands.

He sighed then said, "No bumps, no bruises on your forehead. Tell me how they knocked you out."

"After Murtag brought me up to the roof, he told one of his men to knock me out because I was not to see the path they took to this forest. And then one of them knocked me out with a club."

"Hit you on the head with it?"

"Yes, on the head."

Lancelot paused and looked very thoughtful. He stared into the fire with his eyebrows knit together. He then looked back at Annya and studied her face with his blue eyes. Annya shifted as she felt the uncomfortable of having Lancelot stare at her.

After a while, he said. "You're sure of this?"

"That is what I remember." Annya answered.

"Your shoulder how is it?"

Lancelot got up and put his hand on her shoulder. May I?" he asked. Annya nodded her head.

He started to feel her shoulder to try to feel for anything that might be out of place. When he found out that everything was in its proper place, he sat down cross-legged.

"Strange," He mumbled. "Very strange."

"I'm sorry, Lancelot, but what is strange?"

"Well, if what you said is true about the way they knocked you out, there are no bumps or, from what I can see, any bruises anywhere near your head. Also, your shoulder. Yes, it was starting to heal, but just three days would not have cured it. It would still be dislocated, but you shoulder is as good as new."

"What does all of this mean?"

"I'm not absolutely sure, but my guess is black magic."

"What?" Annya yelled. "Black magic? But, how could they?"

"You would be in for a long story if I told you." Lancelot smiled.

_So that's why I wasn't able to go back to my world when I called the stars._ Annya thought. _I'm unclean. They have used black magic on me! How am I to get home now? No fairy is allowed back if they have used or been touched by black magic._

"Lady Annya, are you alright? You look pale"

"Oh yes, I'm alright; just shocked." Annya breathed in deep. "Oh, by the way, you may call me just Annya, if you wish."

"Ok, Annya." Lancelot started to grin, and Annya thought that he looked so much like a boy that she laughed. "What's so funny?" asked Lancelot.

"Nothing, nothing. Uh, you mentioned that you knew of how Murtag and his men know black magic."

"Well, it's really just Murtag that knows it."

"Oh. Well, would you care to summarize the story and tell me?"

Lancelot lot let out a breath. "You sure you want to know?" he asked.

Annya hesitated a bit, but then said, "Yes, I am."

"Alright then," Lancelot got s pouch from the saddle and propped it up against a rock and lay it down and used it as a pillow. He then turned crossed his arms over his chest and crossed his legs. "Huh, where to start. Ah, I know," Lancelot cleared his throat. "Just remember this is only a summary. Well anyways it starts with Murtag as a child. His father was a tax collector and Murtag grew up spoiled. He got everything that he wanted, nothing was denied from him.

"Murtag's father wanted what was best for his child, so he sent him to King Arthur's castle to become a knight's helper. It was there when he learned all the skills he needed to know for knighthood. So he was knighted and worked his way up to be a knight of the round table.

"But this was not good enough for Murtag, no; he wanted to become King of Camelot. He tried to over throw King Arthur, but failed.

"Murtag was not use to not getting what he wanted, and he wanted to be king, so he tried to get what he wanted through black magic. For years he studied it with a witch that still remains unknown"

"This was unknown to any of us. We just assumed that he gave up and left. But we were gravely wrong. Just recently we have had a war with him. He used black magic to try to win, but we have Merlin. Good old Merlin. Without him, we probably would have lost.

"Well anyways, we won but Murtag was still not defeated. His 'friends' declared war on us, as you know, and Murtag took advantage of this and stole Excalibur." Lancelot paused then said, "That about sums it up in a nut shell."

Lancelot stretched and yawned.

"They don't have Excalibur." Annya said very softly.

"What?" Lancelot nearly yelled. He sat up very quickly and was not fully alert.

"They don't have Excalibur." Annya repeated.

"How do you know?" Lancelot asked almost angrily.

"Before you rescued me; thank you, by the way for doing that," Lancelot nodded his head and raised a hand and then motioned for Annya to continue. "I was by their fire when Murtag came back from where ever he was and asked his men where Excalibur was. A man there, Morzan I think his name is, said that he had lost it."

"Did he say where he lost it?" Lancelot asked eagerly.

"He said that a magical tree took it from him."

"A-h-h," Lancelot said with a smile. He sank back down. "I would have loved to see Murtag's face when he was told that."

"Oh, he was furious. I thought he was going to kill someone. Although I don't think he believed that a tree really did take it from his men."

"I'm not surprised. Not many people know what lies in this forest."

"What forest is this one anyways?"

"It's called Fantasy Forest."

"Fantasy Forest," Annya repeated. "But why that name?"

"Because this forest is magical. Not many people know that. This forest has very deep secrets and has been here for a very, very long time."

"How do you know about this forest?"

"I was injured in battle and came here to seek refuge. I lived here for about a year and a half. Since then, I studied the forest very frequently and learned some of its secrets."

Annya was thoughtful for a moment then said, "So, do you know of the trees? The magical ones?"

Lancelot's face brightened as he caught on to Annya's idea. "Yes, yes I do; very well actually. Ha! Brilliant idea, Annya!" he got up and gave Annya a hug.

Annya hugged him back and placed her head on his shoulder. Annya felt warm inside as Lancelot hugged her. She breathed in his scent and felt the heat of his body against hers.

_I love you._ She thought. _If only you loved me back._

When Lancelot pulled away, Annya, despite herself, felt her face get hot. She smiled at Lancelot and Lancelot gave her a brilliant white smile. He went back to go lie down.

"We'll rest here, and then we'll set out for the magical trees tomorrow." Lancelot said happily. "But for now, why don't we get to know each other?"

"Ok, sounds good.' Annya said, but not really meaning it incase she reveled something of her fairly life. "But you go first."

"Me?" Lancelot said in a whiny voice. "I was hoping that you would go first."

"How about we take turns? You ask me a question then I will ask you a question. Sound good to you?"

"Sounds like a plan to me. You come up with such good ideas." Lancelot smiled.

"Ok, I'll start. Are you married, engaged or anything like that?"

"Why do girls always ask this question?" Lancelot grinned. "H-m-m, this is a complicated subject. Well, let's put it this way. I don't love anyone, but I am engaged to someone."

"Oh," Annya said. "Would you mind explaining that to me?"

Lancelot sighed. "It was an arranged marriage. My parents wanted me to marry someone wealthy and would help me socially; her parents wanted her to marry someone who would bring her up on society." Lancelot started to tap his index finger to his lips. "I really don't like this woman I am to be married to. Really mean, bad temper, and, if you don't mind me saying, not very good looking."

Annya giggled. "Is there any way for you to get out of this to-be-marriage?"

"Only if I marry someone quite soon without my parent's consent. Or I can die or something else like that."

Annya laughed out loud. "Oh, so I see."

"Well, what about you?" Lancelot asked Annya.

"Me? Well I don't love anyone, but I am to marry this year."

"Ah, ok." Lancelot clicked his tongue. "Say, are you thirsty?"

"Actually, yes I am."

"Alright, I'll go get some water from the stream. You can come if you want to."

Lancelot got up and took a small pot that was beside the fire. Annya got up too and followed Lancelot to the small stream.

It was very dark and Annya, for the first time, felt what it was to be cold. Her feet were wet from the dew drops on the grass.

"Chilly tonight," Lancelot said as he looked up at the stars. "We had better make sure that our fire is kept burning."

"Yes, it is cold tonight." Annya said. "This stream," she pointed at the stream where Lancelot was bending down and put in the pot. "Is it safe to drink from?"

"Well, it hasn't killed me yet." Lancelot laughed. "Besides, I was thinking of boiling it just to make sure."

Annya was about to respond, but stopped as she saw Lancelot's horse pick up its ears and widened its eyes in fright. Lancelot saw this too and put down the pot and went to go calm down his horse.

Lancelot started to stroke his horses' neck and murmured in its ear, but the horse would not calm down. Annya heard something rustling the leaves off to her left. She looked and saw a flash of metal in the silver moon light. Immediately Annya knew that it was an arrow.

"Lancelot!" she cried. But she was too late. The archer let go of the string and the arrow went whizzing through the air and hit Lancelot on his right side.

All of a sudden, about ten men came swarming out of the trees.

"Lancelot!" Annya said in a panic. "Get on your horse!" Lancelot cried out something to his gorse which Annya couldn't understand, and his horse knelt down on its two front knees. Annya pushed Lancelot on to his horse and the jumped on herself and dug her heels into the horse's side as the men started to surround them.


	6. Six

Six

Sometimes a troop of damsels glad,

An abbot on an ambling pad,

Sometimes a curly shepherd-lad,

Or long-hair'd page in crimson clad,

Goes by to tower'd Camelot;

And sometimes thro' the mirror blue

The knights come riding two and two:

She hath no loyal knight and true,

The Lady of Shalott.

Annya dunked the cloth that she had ripped from her dress into the pail of water. She squeezed out the diluted blood from the cloth back into the bucket. She sighed as she pushed the cold rag to the bloodied side of Lancelot. He breathed in sharply and gripped the rock beside him until his knuckles turned white. Annya cleaned the inside of the wound with her cloth. Lancelot's chest started to rise and fall more quickly and his breath started to sound raspy.

The arrow that pierced Lancelot's side went deep. He was lucky, though. If the arrow had been half an inch further up, down, or to any side, it would have broken one of Lancelot's ribs. The marrow of the rib would have entered his blood stream, making him have a high fever, and then kill him. It had been difficult to remove the arrow from his side and cause Lancelot so much pain at times, that he fainted. Now, Annya had to properly clean the wound, try to sew him back up, and find some plants to help him heal.

Annya put the blood soaked cloth back into the bucket. She felt Lancelot's forehead with her hand – it was burning hot, but Lancelot was shivering. Annya got up and grabbed the bucket and threw out the bloodied water onto the ground. She put the bucket outside and waited for it to fill with the rain pounding the ground. When it was filled a bit, she took the bucket back under the rock they were staying under. She rinsed the blood stained cloth and then put it on Lancelot's forehead. She then again, threw out the water and put the bucket back under the rain.

Annya put a blanket on Lancelot. After those men had attacked them, they had barely just escaped. Annya found the shelter they were under right now after hours of riding around in the forest. The shelter wasn't much. It was just part of a boulder that the top jetted out about fifteen feet. Never the less, it would have to do. Annya had waited here for a day before going back to the cave where the men had attacked them. Surprisingly, none of their things were touched, and Annya brought it back to where they were staying right now. They had not gone back to the cave for the fear of being attacked again.

Annya poked a stick at the fire that she had made. She thought back to her home. The flames that she was staring at took the form of her home. Annya was seeing herself as a child playing with Febar. He was pushing her on a swing. Higher and higher she swung until she jumped off and toppled onto the cool grass. Febar came running at her and started to tickle her until she was crying from laughing too hard.

"Annya," came a voice. Annya came back into reality and she walked over to where Lancelot was lying down.

"Yes?" she asked softly.

"Would you bring me that saddle bag, please?" Lancelot asked as he pointed to a saddle bag at the back of the shelter.

Annya walked over to the bag and brought it to Lancelot. He started to search through it until he took out what seemed like ragged boy's clothes. He held them out to her, and she took them.

"I brought them for you. I thought that it would be safer for you to travel as a boy rather than a girl." Lancelot paused to catch his breath. Just talking took an enormous effort for him. "I also think that it would be easier for you to move around in instead of a dress." He smiled.

Annya opened the clothes. There was a brown pair of pants, a white shirt, and a brown pull over jacket that had a hood on it. They were peasant boy clothes. Annya just looked at them. As much as she despised the idea of wearing poor boy clothes, she knew that it was for the best. Being a girl at the moment was not the safest thing right now. Look at what being a girl got her: under a rock in the pouring rain.

"Thank you," Annya said. "I'm sure these will come in handy."

Lancelot's eyes strayed to Annya's hair that fell around her waist. "Annya," he paused trying to figure out what words to use. "You're hair…"

Annya's hands shot up to her hair and she grabbed her silvery gold hair. "No! I can't! I can't cut it off!"

"It's for the best."

"No! I can't! At least not now. If a time comes when I really need to cut it off, then I will."

"Very well,"

Lancelot closed his eyes. Annya went to go sit beside him. She took out some bread from the saddle bag and gave some to Lancelot, then started to eat some herself.

"I fear the last time that we tried to get to know each other did not turn out that well." Lancelot smiled, with his eyes still closed.

"I think that it was just less of a disaster." Annya chuckled.

"Shall we continue?"

"We shall."

"Tell me about your home."

Annya stiffened. How could she lie about her home? The subject was too complicated to lie about. If she described her home in her world, Lancelot would know that she was not from Camelot as she said she was. If she tried to make up a home, it would be too hard to describe and Lancelot would know that she was lying. But if she told him the truth, would he understand? Why would his attitude towards her change if she told him that she was a fairy? It wasn't like being a fairy made her evil or anything. She made up her mind. She would tell Lancelot the truth.

"Lancelot," Annya said. "Before I do tell you about me home, there is something else that I must tell you."

With his eyes still closed. Lancelot said, "Ok, go ahead."

Annya paused wondering she had made the right decision. "I'm not who you think I am."

Lancelot opened his eyes and looked her. "What do you mean?" he asked, now one his guard.

"I mean that I am not of this world."

When Lancelot didn't say anything, Annya said, "I am a fairy."

He just looked at her with the same expression on his face. With a great effort, Lancelot moved away from where Annya was sitting.

"But Lancelot!" Annya cried as she got up from the floor. Lancelot just responded by reaching down his boot and took out a dagger from it.

Annya walked to the opposite end of the shelter from Lancelot. She felt as if he had just slapped her across the face and told her that he hated her. She got another blanket from the second saddle bag and lay down to sleep for there was nothing else to do. Annya silently cried herself to sleep. She had trusted Lancelot.

The next morning, Lancelot acted just the same. He wouldn't let Annya come near him and didn't touch the food or water that Annya brought him. And so it went for the next day and the next, until Annya saw that Lancelot's wound started to ooze a yellow and green puss. She could tell that his fever wasn't getting any better from him not eating or drinking anything.

"Lancelot," Annya said that morning. "You may try to kill me with your dagger, but I am still going to clean that wound of yours because it is starting to become infected. If it is not treated soon, you will most likely die from it."

Annya placed a bucket of water near Lancelot. She kneeled down beside him and took of the blanket that was covering him. To her surprise, he did not try to stab her with his knife.

The puss had dried up and now crusted the wound. Annya saw that she would have to take the dried puss off is she was to clean the wound. The rag would not be able to take it off – the puss was too hard.

"May I borrow your dagger?" Annya asked Lancelot. He looked at her as if she had asked the most stupid question ever. "I need to cut off the puss that has crusted over your wound."

Reluctantly, Lancelot gave Annya his dagger. Annya quickly grabbed it from his out stretched hand. She unsheathed it, and stuck the blade, up to the hilt, in the red coal of the fire, which she kept burning constantly. She watched the blade of the dagger become redder and redder with her back to Lancelot.

_Why am I even doing this for him? _Annya thought. _He treats me_ _as if I were a demon or something terribly evil. It is as if he thinks that I'm going to kill him at any time. How stupid of him. Of all the chances that I was able to, he think that I will now. Pathetic, really._

A little bubble of anger started to swell in her chest.

_After all the things that I have done for him!_ Annya continued to herself._ I was caring for him while he was sick, I saved his life when those men attacked us, and I've followed his orders and have kept him company. And the things that he has done for me! I guess he thinks all of that in vain. Humph! Men!_

Annya pulled the dagger out of the fire so fast that it sounded like someone pulling out his sword from its sheath with much haste. Lancelot whipped his head around to face Annya. He looked at her with angry eyes asking her what in the world she was doing.

Annya brought the flaming red blade of the dagger over to Lancelot. She sat beside him.

"Wait!" Lancelot croaked. It was the first time he had spoken to her since she told him that she was a fairy. It took her by surprise.

"What?" Annya answered coldly.

"You're not going to put that blade on me."

"Oh? And who says that I'm not going to?"

"You would be mad to do so."

"Just as mad as someone to all of a sudden fear someone because they told you that they were different from you? Oh! Or how about this one? How about fearing that a person that you have been with for a few weeks already might kill you although they had many chances to do so before. Does that sound mad to you too? It certainly does to me."

Lancelot was silent. He would not even look Annya in the eye.

"Oh, very well," Annya said. "I will cool the blade." Annya dunked the flaming blade into the bucket of water beside her. As soon as the blade touched the water, a sizzling sound came from the bucket, followed by a large amount of steam. She took the dagger out from the water and shook the water running off the tip of the blade. She started to cut off the hard puss and did it so roughly that Lancelot cried out.

"Ouch!" he roared. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Taking off the puss around your wound." Annya answered simply.

"Do you think you could be any gentler?" Lancelot said sarcastically.

"Maybe," Annya gave Lancelot the sheath of the dagger to hold on to. "You'll need that."

Lancelot took it from her and when Annya continued to cut, he gripped the sheath of the dagger until Annya thought that it would break.

"Almost done." Annya said. Lancelot, if possible, just gripped to sheath even harder.

As Annya cut, the hardened yellow green puss fell in a small pile near Lancelot. When she finished, she saw that she would have to clean and close the wound; otherwise it would become even more infected. She took her cloth and cleaned the wound. Fresh puss started to seep out of the wound.

"This is going to hurt." Annya said. She put the dagger back into the red coals and then went back to Lancelot and began to squeeze his wound so that all the puss would come out. Lancelot gritted his teeth slowly as Annya did this.

Eventually, the wound started to give out blood instead of the yellow and green puss. She wiped the blood away with her cloth and tore off another piece of her dress.

"You'll need this to bit on." She said as she handed it to Lancelot.

He took it, but did not put it in his mouth right away. Annya went to get the dagger from the flames of the fire. It looked hotter than ever. The edges of the blade were almost white from the heat.

"This is going to really hurt, but I must close up your wound." Lancelot looked at the blazing red metal in Annya's hand. There was fear is his eyes for a second, but then bravery spread out over his face. He stuffed the cloth that Annya had given him into his mouth, and he gripped the sheath again.

Annya knelt down beside him and pressed his wound together so that the wound was closed. She quickly placed the dagger onto his skin. A sizzling sound came and Annya could smell his burning flesh.

Lancelot gripped his sheath in his hand so hard that his arm started to tremble. He had his jaw locked in a furious grip around the cloth in his mouth. Sweat started to roll off his face.

Annya moved the blade to the last opening in his wound. Then she stopped – she was done. She dropped the dagger into the bucket beside her and steam rose from the pail.

"Done," Annya said in a tired tone.

Lancelot's grip on the sheath relaxed and he spat out the cloth in his mouth. He wiped the sweat off his face with his arm. His breathing started to slow down.

"It still hurts." He whispered.

"Well, of course! You just had your skin seared together. What do you expect?"

Lancelot took in a deep breath. "Thank you." He breathed.

Annya stood there in shock. She swallowed the anger that she had and said, "You're welcome."

"Look," Lancelot said. "I know that I was treating you badly. I was in the wrong for doing that. You told me that you were a fairy in the confidence that I would treat you just the same as before."

Annya nodded, for that is what she thought.

"At first," Lancelot continued. "I didn't know what to think. But then I decided that I should stay away from you because of the stories that I heard from others. All the terrible things that some fairies did to man."

"But I'm not like those kinds of fairies! I'm differ-" Lancelot cut her off by putting up his hand to stop her from explaining herself.

"I know, I know. I have just realized that now. I was thinking about what you said about all the times that you could have killed me and did not. You know, I don't really know where I'm going with this, but I told myself to treat you like a human and not some God forsaken creature. So, I guess what I'm really trying to say is that I'm sorry. I was in the wrong."

Annya just looked at Lancelot. "Oh," she finally said. "Well, umm, I guess that you're hungry and thirsty. I'll get you something.

She walked over to the fire place where there was a put full of vegetable stew. She took out the last piece of bread that they had and put it in the stew. Then, because they only had a pot and a bucket to put things in, she brought over the whole pot.

"Eat, I'll get some water." Annya took the pail that had the dagger in it and gave it back to Lancelot. She threw out the water in the bucket and then took the bridle for Lancelot's horse. She walked outside their shelter.

"Theo!" she called. That was Lancelot's horse's name. "Theo!" she called again in her sing song voice.

A shrill whiney could be heard and seconds later, Lancelot's blood bay came out of the trees, trotting towards Annya.

"Good boy, Theo. Come her. I need to get some water." Annya put the bucket down and held up the bridle by the sides, gave Theo the bit, and slipped the rest of the bridle over his massive head. She then picked up the bucket and placed it on a high rock. She was going to vault on to Theo. She placed a hand on his shoulders, took a small jump, then took a bigger jump and swung her leg over Theo's hind quarters and pushed herself up with her hands.

She had to sit like a man on the horse because there was no side saddle and if she sat sideways, she would fall off. It was extremely uncomfortable to sit like this with a dress on. Her dress went up past her knee for her to be able to spread her legs on either side of the horse. Annya remembered the boy clothes that Lancelot had given her and asked herself why she didn't put them on. Never mind, she had things to do without thinking about how uncomfortable her dress felt on her right now.

Annya leaned forward and whispered, "Ready for a good ride, Theo?"

Theo tossed his huge and elegant head. His fiery eyes widened, showing the white. He pawed the ground with a hoof and starts to prance on the spot. Annya felt his muscles tighten underneath her.

_So this is what you've been itching for,_ Annya thought. _One good ride – something that you haven't had for a while. Well you'll get the ride of your lifetime._

Theo was starting to twitch from excitement and hardly needed encouragement to get going, so when Annya gently pressed her heels to his sides, Theo was off at a full gallop. Annya made him jump a log, stopped, and then turned him towards to rock that the bucket was on.

"Let's see how good you are at sharp turns, shall we?" Annya said while staring at the bucket sitting on the rock. Theo was taking a step forwards then backwards from excitement.

Annya kicked Theo on his sides and gave him his head. She stared at the bucket as if she were trying to pierce it with her eyes. She put the reins in her right hand while she held her left out in front of her. Theo was eating up the ground and the bucket was racing towards her.

Theo seemed to know what Annya wanted and he put an extra burst of speed. When Theo's head came to the tip of the rock, Annya pulled the reins across Theo's muscular neck and dug her right heel into his side to turn him around the rock. Annya leaned down and squeezed her legs even harder around Theo to not fall off him. She grabbed the bucket by the handle and quickly straightened herself.

"Let's get some water!" she laughed.

Annya and Theo raced through the forest. The dogged trees and jumped over fallen logs and gaps in the ground. They made it to the cave in record time, and when they arrived there, there weren't tears in Annya's eyes from just the wind; she couldn't stop grinning. Theo seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed himself and was now steaming.

Annya dismounted him and walked to the streams edge, filled her bucket and poured the water over his steaming body. She would walk him back to their shelter to cool him off. Annya put the reins back over his head to rest on his neck and he went off to graze nearby.

Annya dipped her hot feet into the cool sparkling water of the stream. She splashed herself to cool her hot body. It felt so good! The cold water ran down her fair skin, dancing in the sun like diamonds.

After cooling herself down, she filled the bucket with water and called Theo to her side. She again placed the filled bucket on a rock and then mounted Theo. She walked him towards the rock, and picked up the bucket carefully to not splash and water.

As soon as she had entered the trees, she heard someone splash the stream. She stopped Theo, dismounted, placed the water on the ground, and told Theo to stay where he was. She silently approached the edge of the trees to see who had come to the stream.

What Annya saw shocked her so much that she had to clasp a hand over her mouth to muffle her scream. It was Murtag and some of his men. Annya recognized some of them. She saw that Holt was there and Morzan was just behind Murtag.

"Did you hear something?" Murtag asked to no one in particular.

Annya still had her hand over her mouth as she tried to slow down her breathing. Her heart thumped painfully against her chest.

"No sir," Morzan replied. "Maybe it was a bird."

"Perhaps," Murtag said.

Annya saw that Murtag and splashed his face with water from the stream for water was dripping off his face. He wiped it with his sleeve and stood up.

"So," Murtag said to his men. "Is this where they were when you attacked them?" Murtag's men nodded their heads and a few of them said, 'yes sir.' "You didn't kill them, though?" His men shook their heads. "Good, good. You did injure, um, what's his name, um, oh right! Lancelot; you did hurt him, right?" His men nodded. "Good, good. Finally, you good for nothing lot can do something right. Morzan!"

Morzan came to Murtag's side. "Yes sir?" he asked.

"Which way did they head into the wood?"

"That way sir," Morzan pointed directly to where Annya was squatting. Murtag started to follow where Morzan pointed. Annya's heart started to race. Why, oh why was she wearing a red dress? Of all the times! She started to wish that she had put on the boy's clothes before she left. Her heartbeat started to ring in her ears so loudly that she was sure that Murtag would hear it.

Murtag just looked in the direction with eyes that were not in focus.

"Excellent," Murtag said. "I'm sure Lancelot is healed enough by now to start looking for Excalibur. But they will be slow which is, of course, what we wanted. It'll be cake to follow them. Ha, ha, ha, ha! Oh, it's just so simple that I can't believe the genius in it! They get Excalibur and we take it from them and then discard of them! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! It's just so simple!"

Annya was horror struck. So that was why they left their supplies in the cave. They wanted them to live but to be slow. They were using them, and then after they were done, they would kill them.

"Right," continued Murtag. "Morzan, I want you to show me around this place. The rest of you make camp." Morzan and Murtag went off together.

Annya decided that she had hung around for long enough. She very quietly went back to Theo who was waiting for her with his ears pricked up. She picked up the bucket full of water and started to stroke Theo's long, powerful neck.

"Let's go," she whispered. "And keep quiet." She walked deeper into the forest back to the waiting Lancelot. Only when she was sure that she was well out of ear shot from Murtag and his men did she mount Theo and made him march through the forest at a brisk walk.

She finally arrived at their shelter and tied Theo to make sure that he wouldn't wander back to where Murtag and his men were. Theo snorted and stamped his foot in protest, but Annya ignored him. She hurried back to Lancelot with the water sloshing in the bucket.

"Lancelot!" she nearly shouted.

"What? What happened? Are you ok?" he asked seeing the distress on Annya's face. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm not hurt, but I have news." She said. She placed the bucket beside Lancelot, but he did not even look at it.

"Come," he said with his hand outstretched. "Sit and tell me."

Annya took his hand and sat beside him. She told him how she went to the creek and that when she was about to go, she heard someone in the creek. She told him that she saw Murtag and his men there and the plan that they had that he was going to kill them afterwards they got Excalibur from them.

"That bastard," Lancelot said when Annya had finished. "Here, drink." He took the bucket of water beside him and handed it to Annya. She took a sip of it and then gave it back to Lancelot who took long and large gulps of the water. He wiped his mouth on his arm and put the bucket down.

"Lancelot, what are we to do?"

Lancelot looked thoughtful then said, "I do not know. What will come, will come, and we will have to meet it when it does."

"But Lancelot! Surely you do not mean to lead them right to Excalibur and then let them kill us. Why do you not go back to King Arthur and tell him about what has happened?"

"Because we can't. Murtag and his men are following us. If the see that we are heading back to King Arthur's castle, they will surely attack us. We must try to get Excalibur back and then we will see what happens from then."

Annya nodded. She knew that that was the best idea. "How's your fever?" she asked suddenly feeling Lancelot's forehead.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." He said trying to brush away her hand.

"You're not as hot as you were before." She said, taking her hand off his forehead.

"Really? I thought that I was still good looking. What do you think happened?" he said looking down at his body.

"Lancelot!" Annya said. But she smiled.

Lancelot laughed and said, "You know, I think you should put on those clothes that I brought for you. It might make it easier to ride in."

Annya turned pink as she remembered how high her dress went up on her legs. "You saw that?" she asked shyly.

"Of course. I think that you are and excellent rider, by the way. Most men cannot ride like that even with a saddle."

"Oh, why, thank you." Annya smiled at the compliment. "Where are the clothes? I'll put them on."

"They are over there by the fire." Lancelot said pointing to the heap of clothes beside the burning fire.

Annya got up and picked them up. She went outside to change out of the view of Lancelot. She undid the lace of the weaved pattern on her back and loosened it. She then took off her dress and put on the boy's shirt. The material was cotton and not as nice on her skin as the silk was, but it was loose fitting and not tight like the dress. When she put on the pants, they were surprisingly comfortable. She could feel more freedom of the movement with her legs. The pants were not very loose, and still defined her legs. She then put on the leather boots. She picked up the hooded sweater and carried it back to the shelter for although it was becoming dark, it was warm outside.

"How do I look?" Annya asked Lancelot as she turned around.

"As gorgeous as ever." He replied.

Annya laughed. "They are very comfortable." She said.

"Are they? I wouldn't know the difference between the fittings of a dress compared to boy clothes. But I'll take your word for it."

They dying sun spread its last golden rays into the cave illuminating the features of Annya's beauty. The birds were still chirping their song outside as if they were playing music for them.

Lancelot got up and put his shirt on. He looked outside at the setting sun that made the sky purple and pink. He looked at Annya who was washed over in the rays of the sun.

"Care of a dance?" Lancelot asked her offering her his hand and bowing slightly with one hand behind his back.

Annya looked at him. He looked ridiculously handsome with the sun's rays playing around him. She felt her insides melt. "I would be delighted too." She said sweetly. She took Lancelot's hand and he led her to a clearing except for one willow tree and a large rock.

He stopped there and faced Annya. He put one hand on her hip and curled his fingers of his other hand around hers. He pulled her close to him and Annya put her hand on his shoulder as she did not have a dress on and would not need to hold it.

Lancelot's blue eyes looked into Annya' now deep green eyes. Annya found that she could not look away from him.

They began to dance slowly and simply. They swayed their bodies and moved in a circle around the willow tree and the rock. They said nothing to each other and just looked into each other's eyes. They were completely oblivious to their surroundings and kept dancing until the full moon was shining in the sky, casting a silver light down upon them.

As they danced Lancelot slowly pulled Annya closer to him until their bodies were touching. Annya could feel Lancelot's well defined body up against hers – his body heating hers, and despite herself she shivered.

"Are you cold?" Lancelot asked gently, still looking into her eyes.

"A little," she liked to make up for the shiver.

Lancelot just pulled her closer, rested his chin on her shoulder and put his hand to her other hip to wrap her with his arm. Annya took her hand off Lancelot's shoulder, looped it through his arm, and then put it back on his shoulder. She then placed her head on his chest and shut her eyes.

Annya felt like she was in heaven. She never wanted this dance to end. She wanted to stay like this forever – wrapped in Lancelot's strong arms.

"Are you warm now?" Lancelot asked jokingly.

Annya breathed out and smiled. "Very," she said.

They danced like this for a few moments more before Lancelot sat on the rock by the willow. The willow branches hung around them as if it were protecting them. Lancelot held Annya's hand and had his body turned towards her.

"Annya," he said softly.

"Mmmm?"

"I know that you are a fairy and that I am a human and that we're different, but …" he paused. Annya looked at him with frightened eyes.

_Is he going to tell me that he doesn't like me?_ Annya thought._ Oh, please don't tell me that. Oh, please, oh please, oh please … _

"All the same," Lancelot continued. "I love you."

Joy spread throughout Annya entire body. Those words were the best words that she had ever heard before. Tears sprung to her eyes from happiness.

"Oh, Lancelot!" she said in a quivering voice. The tears started to come down her face even though she tried to stop them. "I love you too."

Lancelot gave her a huge smile. He held her face in his hands and brushed the tears away from Annya's face with his thumb.

"Then I am the luckiest man in the world." He whispered.

He brought his face closer to Annya's and gave her a long awaited kiss on her lips.


	7. Seven

Seven

But in her web she still delights

To weave the mirror's magic sights,

For often through the silent nights

A funeral, with plumes and lights

And music, went to Camelot;

Or when the Moon was overhead,

Came two young lovers lately wed.

"I'm half sick of shadows," said

The Lady of Shalott.

It was the second day that Annya and Lancelot rode on Theo through the forest. Theo walked because of Lancelot's wound; even at a walk it still hurt him. Annya sat at the front and Lancelot sat behind her. Annya steered Theo and Lancelot told her where to go. They were going to the magic trees to get Excalibur back from them.

"How does your home look like, anyways?" Lancelot asked Annya.

"If I tell you, will you promise to still talk to me afterwards?" Annya smiled.

"You know that I will." Said Lancelot as he squeezed Annya's shoulder.

"I'm just making sure. Last time I thought that, you didn't just not talk to me, but you also feared me. Well anyways – my home. In my world, I'm a princess."

"Really?" Lancelot asked in shock. "I should have known. They way you carry yourself and your manners are clearly the teachings from someone for royalty."

"Yes, well it's really all about the show. That's why we have to hold ourselves like so. My father, Febar, married my mother, Seriffina. They were not forced into their marriage, unlike me."

"You're married?" Lancelot asked, trying to hide his shock.

"No, I'm not. But as my duty as princess, I am to marry this year."

"Oh, ok then." Lancelot said sounding relieved.

"My father is kind of all fairies right now. My mother died when I was little. But my father wants to marry again. Well anyways, I'll describe my home. Our castle is, apparently, is the biggest and grandest of all the fairy kingdoms. We are also the only kingdom that has the only direct connection to the mortal world. It is a river that starts in our world and ends in your. However, no mortal may cross into the fairy world using that river; only fairies can."

"That's just a bit unfair, don't you think so?" Lancelot said.

"I guess so. But that is just how it has been for many, many years."

"Ah, yes. Tradition runs deep in your world."

"Exactly."

"Hold on. Annya, stop here."

Annya reined in Theo and Theo stopped, breathing heavily.

"Why are we stopping here?" Annya asked Lancelot.

"I need to check something."

Lancelot slid off Theo's back and walked towards a tight cluster of trees. He walked around it as if he were searching for something.

"What ever are you looking for, Lancelot?" said Annya.

"Shhh." Was all Lancelot said.

Lancelot crouched down and placed his hand near the roots of the cluster of trees. He started to dig at the dirt at the base of a thin trunk of a tree. All of a sudden, a branch came whizzing towards Lancelot's head. Annya screamed and he ducked just in time. Other branches now started to try to hit Lancelot. He scrambled out, away from the flaying ranches that were trying to attack him. He grabbed Theo's reins and started to run away from the trees. When they ran a few meters where Lancelot was sure that the trees would not reach them, he stopped.

"What … why … what happened?" Annya asked.

"Just checking to see where we are." Lancelot said, sounding amused.

"How do branches trying to hit you tell you where you are?" Annya nearly shouted.

A grin spread over Lancelot's face. He looked back to the trees who were now swinging their branches threateningly towards Lancelot's direction. He turned back to Annya with the same grin on his face.

"Annya, my dear," Lancelot said. "Think. How many trees do you know are able to swing their branches at will?"

Annya's brain clicked in. "Oh!" she said. "So I see. Are we close to the magical trees, then?"

"Yes. In fact, we are just on the boarder of entering their territory."

"Really?" Annya said, sounding fascinated. "How do we enter?"

"Well, I seem to have angered an entrance to their territory." Lancelot said, looking back to the cluster of trees that were still swaying their branches. "But not to worry! We shall find another one. Just look for more clusters like that one."

Lancelot got back on Theo and they rode on. And sure enough, there was another entrance not too far away from the first one.

They both dismounted Theo. Lancelot walked up to the cluster of trees straight away, but Annya hung back.

"What's wrong?" Lancelot asked Annya.

"Nothing." Annya lied.

"Well, come on then."

In truth, Annya was terrified. She saw what had had happened last time Lancelot went too close to the trees.

"You go on. I'll stay here with Theo so that he won't go anywhere." Annya said.

"Don't be silly, Annya. You know that Theo can take care of himself and that he won't go anywhere far from where we leave him. He _is_ my horse after all and therefore has been trained exceptionally well." Annya still didn't move. "Oh, come now, it's not that bad. Are you scared?"

"A little." Annya said in a quivering voice.

"Oh. Oh! I see why you're scared. No, no, no my dear Annya. See, they only tried to hit me because I started to dig up their roots and they thought that I was going to pull them up. But that is really the only reason why they tried to hurt me."

Annya still stayed where she was, unconvinced. Lancelot sighed and walked back to Annya. He embraced her in his arms and started to rock her back and forth. Annya immediately felt calmed down and wrapped her arms around Lancelot.

"Annya, it may not seem that I know what I'm doing, but I _do_ know what I'm doing. I would not want to put you in danger, and I feel that leaving you out here alone with Murtag and his men out there following us is much more dangerous than you coming with me. So please, please just trust me and come with me. I need you more than you know I do."

He looked into Annya's eyes and Annya felt herself nod. Lancelot smiled at her and gave her a kiss on her cheek. He took her hand and they walked back towards the clump of trees.

"So, how exactly do we enter into the tree's territory?"

"You walk between these trees."

The two of them looked at the trees and did not move. The trees all of a sudden looked forbidding. Their spiny branches looked like long, evil arms waiting to snatch up its next innocent, wandering prey. The trees looked thicker, taller and more threatening.

Lancelot squeezed Annya's hand and said, "Are you ready?"

"I suppose so." Annya said without looking at Lancelot.

Lancelot took a step forward and Annya followed his lead. They pushed the branches out of their path, being careful not to break them. Their feet felt the soft, moist soil beneath them – feeling their way forward. They stepped into the centre of the trees where there was a large circular space. This clearing was not like the outside of the trees – it was completely different. It was covered in moss and was dimly lit from an eerie, soft, electric blue, tiny speaks of light. The light moved very slowly around the clearing, as if it were in a trance.

"Fairy dust," Annya breathed out, looking at a small speak of light floating right in front of her face.

"What's that?" Lancelot whispered, still looking around him.

"Fairy dust; it's not really dust, though. It's actually left over magic. But the only magic it can do is glow blue and float." Annya whispered back.

Annya didn't really know why they were whispering. It seemed if they spoke too loud, then everything would go away and they would be left alone in the dark.

"But why –." Lancelot stopped talking as the ground below them started to shake.

They took a step backwards, but when their foot touched the ground, it crumbled away and the fell over. As soon as the rest of their body hit the ground, the rest of the dirt fell away and they fell through.

Annya screamed and Lancelot swore. Annya stomach flew to her mouth as they fell through total blackness. Annya hit something soft and from the other thud she heard, Lancelot hit the ground too. Annya looked up and could not see the hole they had fallen through.

_Impossible. _Annya thought. _How could it have covered itself up again? We can't be too far down for the fall was not that long._

She scanned the top again for any hint of the fairy dust – there was none.

"Annya?" Lancelot whispered somewhere behind her.

"Shush." Annya replied sharply.

Annya had heard something else whisper. It was more like a deep, soft grumble. The whisper sounded like it belonged to something big and very old.

Annya scanned her surroundings, but couldn't see anything in the blackness that surrounded them. There was not a single outline of anything.

"What is it?" Lancelot said in a barely audible whisper. He sounded closer.

"I'm not sure." Annya whispered back.

Annya ran a hand over her ankle because it was starting to itch. But instead of feeling her soft skin, she felt something shaped like a thick rope and felt very rough.

Annya tried to rip it off, but it only became tighter. Annya let out a gasp of surprise as she was suddenly hoisted into the air and was dangling upside-down by her ankle. She did a sit-up in mid-air and grabbed onto the rope above her ankle. She tried to pull her foot out from the grip, but it only became tighter until Annya felt it cut into her flesh. She stopped, let go of the rope, and let herself dangle upside-down again.

As if on cue from Annya stopping to try to free herself, the same lightning blue light illuminated the area to brightly that Annya had to shield her eyes.

"Who dares come and disturb the ancient?" boomed a very low and crackly voice.

Annya lowered her hand from her eyes and had to squint in the dazzling blue light. She tried to look at there surroundings, but couldn't see because of the light. It was like someone was shining a bright light right into her eyes.

"Speak!" shouted the thunderous voice. "Speak or we shall kill you! What is you business here? What is of such grave importance that you dare disturb the ancient? Speak!"

Annya started to feel dizzy from all the blood rushing to her head.

"Please," she gasped. "Please let me down or I fear that I shall faint."

Annya heard low rumbling whispers as if they had been insulted.

"We do not take orders from mere mortals!" roared the voice. Annya felt her body vibrate from the sound.

Annya sat up in mid-air. "Mere mortal?" she said in a hot voice. "I am no mortal! Without the help of my people, your place would not exist!" Annya said, remembering the fairy dust.

There was a pause, and then the same low voice came, except it was more curious. "What are you then?"

"A fairy." Annya replied. Her stomach started to burn and she let herself hang upside-down again.

A ripple of gasps and murmurs surrounded Annya.

The same voice came, except it was talking in the ancient fairy language. "We have not seen one of your kind for centuries! What brings your presence here?"

"Excalibur, and if you don't mind, please let me down." Annya replied in the ancient tongue.

Annya felt herself being lowered to the ground and the blinding blue light started to dim around her. She was able to take in her surroundings as last, and what she saw astonished her. She was crouching in a pile of moss where she saw the outline of the place she had fell. As she looked around her, there were dozens and dozens of trees all crowded around her. As she examined the trees more closely, she saw that they had faces. Their faces, however, were made of moss, leaves, or other natural things found on trees. For their mouth, they had either a hole or a slit. The only thing that was not natural about them was their eyes.

They were not oval, but more like a circle giving an owl-like appearance about them. They had only one colour to their eyes with no pupils. Some of the eyes were hard to see because they were hidden by the large amount of moss or leaves around them.

The trees were huge. The smallest tree was standing about sixty feet and the tallest about ninety feet tall. Their trunks were abnormally thick that if three people were to join hands around the trunk, they would not be able to go completely around the massive base of the tree. Their roots did not go into the ground, but acted, rather, as long tentacles to push them forward in a way an octopus would move on the ocean floor.

Annya looked directly above her and saw Lancelot dangling in the air with the lightning blue light all around him. He did not seem to be moving.

"Let him down!" Annya screamed in the old language. "He's with me! Let him down gently!"

The trees obeyed her, and set Lancelot down beside her. Annya looked at Lancelot. His eyes were closed and his face seemed to be concentrated in pain. Sweat beaded his face and he would twitch every so often.

"What did you do to him?" Annya asked the trees harshly.

"Mind torture." Replied the eldest tree. "We tried to grasp your mind, but since you are a fairy, we could not."

"Stop it! Stop! Let him be. He means you no harm! He is with me!"

"We have obeyed you thus far, but this is where we draw the line. It is an ancient custom of ours to do this to whoever intrudes. By doing this mind torture, we are able to find out who he is, what his intensions are with us, and more important things."

"But this is an invasion of his privacy! You are hurting him!"

"Listen!" the tree shouted angrily. "You are lucky that we have treated you kindly thus far. Do not underestimate what we can do to you! You will be given a place to stay with this pathetic mortal until we elders have discussed your reasons to come here. But mark my words, if you dare ever upset us again, you will wish that you never came here!" With that said, the tree turned his back on then, and said something to a smaller tree behind him. "Follow him. He will show you to your sleeping quarters." And he left.

"Come with me," grumbled the other tree. He grabbed Lancelot with a flexible branch and started to move his way expertly across the forest. Annya had to jog to keep up with him.

As they moved through the forest, Annya saw mortals among the gigantic trees. She saw some taking care of the younger trees or the very old trees. Others were going in and out of stone huts. The mortals wore very little clothing, only covering necessary areas. Their clothes were completely natural. Most of the clothes were made out of grass, but there were some that were made of feathers o, dead leaves, or other things like that.

"Um, excuse me," Annya said tentatively. "I was wondering what those mortals are doing down here."

The tree just grunted in reply and slithered across the forest floor even faster.

They later arrived at the place where they were to stay and the tree told Annya not to move from that spot until further instructions from the elders, and then he left them.

The tree left them in an isolated spot in the massive forest. There weren't even other trees around to provide company; there was just a small bush beside the hut. The hut was something else. It looked older that the ancient trees and seemed to be held up by some magical force. It was made of old and cracked mud with a tattered cloth for the front door. It was a small place that seemed to be able to hold one person with less than the minimum space needed for living.

Annya timidly approached the hut, afraid that any little noise would make it collapse. She carefully drew back the rotten rag and gasped. She shut her eyes, not believing in what she saw. When she opened then, she saw exactly the same thing as before. The inside of the hut was as beautiful as the outside was ugly. Everything was made from natural things and the inside was bigger than what it looked like from the outside. For a carpet, a thick and lustrous grass covered the floor, decorated with flowers. There were two beds that were on a mound of dirt, covered in dry spongy moss. There were stones carved to the shape of chairs. In the middle of the room was a fire, except it was not burning wood. In fact, it was burning nothing. It was floating above the ground, not burning anything. There were small open windows on the sides of the hut, but the wind did not disturb the fire.

Annya went out of the hut to fetch Lancelot from the ground to bring him into the hut. Lancelot was still not awake, but his face did not seem to be in pain anymore. She hooked her arm under his and started to drag him into the hut. She placed him on one of the beds and brought a stone chair over to his bedside. She held his hand and realized that it was cold. She looked at the fire dancing in the middle of the floor and wished that it was by Lancelot's bed side to keep him warm.

To Annya's alarm and great surprise, the fire started to move towards her. She jumped up from her chair, knocking it down, and leapt away from the fire that was moving in her direction.

The fire stopped near the middle of Lancelot's bed and all of a sudden burst with life and became bigger and glowed brighter. The fire seemed to be content where it was and simmered down a bit.

Annya cautiously picked up her chair and placed it by Lancelot. The fire didn't move. She sat down and placed her head on the side of Lancelot's bed. She was so tired! She hadn't slept properly for a few days, having about three hours of sleep each night.

Annya's eyes were stinging and she closed them. The heat of the fire and Lancelot's slow breathing made her relax and she soon fell into a dreamless sleep.

Someone was shaking her and was softly calling her name. She rolled over and grunted and mumbled something that sounded like 'Let me sleep.' But the voice kept on insisting and the shaking became rougher, but she ignored them. She felt fingers going to her sides and then they started to tickle her. She rolled over again, trying to rid herself on the tickling fingers; but they kept tickling her and became even harder.

Annya tried to take the fingers off of her side, but they were stronger than her and very insistent. Finally, Annya started to laugh and she opened her eyes. Lancelot was standing over her and was grinning.

"Get off me." Annya laughed at Lancelot.

"Not until you get out of your bed." Lancelot said, tickling Annya even more.

Annya started to laugh ever harder and rolled around in her bed trying to rid herself of Lancelot. Only when Annya fell off her bed did Lancelot stop tickling her.

"Are you ok?" Lancelot asked, helping Annya up.

"I'm alright." Annya said, catching her breath. "Anyways, why did you wake me up and how did I get to my bed?" Annya asked looking at the bed she just fell off.

"Well, I woke up and saw you sleeping on that chair and you looked very uncomfortable, so I brought you to your bed. As for waking you up, the trees want to talk to you, I think. They wouldn't talk to me, but just pointed to where you were sleeping. I don't think they like me very much."

"Hmm, I wonder why." Annya said without much conviction.

Lancelot looked at her with narrowed eyes.

"Yes you do know why," he said. "I know you do. Why do they not like me?"

"I better go meet with them; they don't like to be kept waiting." Annya said while rushing towards the exit.

"Wait," Lancelot said while quickly grabbing one of Annya's arms. "I'm going to come with you. They cannot be trusted at the moment."

"You cannot just invite yourself. They would be greatly insulted."

"Annya, I _am _going to come with you." Lancelot said with force.

Annya looked at him and pondered whether to risk angering the trees who were already irritated from Annya yelling at them before or to risk making Lancelot angry.

"I'll see what I can do." Annya said while taking her arm out of Lancelot's grasp and walked out the door.

Outside, the trees were patiently waiting in a huddle for Annya.

"Dear ancient ones," Annya said in the old language. "What brings your presence here?"

"We have come to discuss your doings here and to escort you to our meeting place."

"I will come, of course, but I have a humble request."

"Name it."

"Would you would most graciously allow the mortal, Lancelot, to attend our meeting along side of me?"

The trees paused and looked at Annya for so long that she felt herself start to blush.

"What are his reasons?" the eldest tree finally asked.

"He would feel better if he were with me."

"We do not want him to know what our meeting is about." The tree said hotly.

"If it would be alright, we could speak in this language. HE does not know that it even exists."

"Yes, we know. We have found out many things from him."

All the trees glared at her and Annya felt herself get even hotter.

"He shall come," the tree said. "But know this; it is not often we do favors like this and our patience is running low. Now go and get this mortal."

"Many thanks." Annya said and ran back inside to get Lancelot.

"Well?" Lancelot asked urgently when Annya came back inside.

"Oh, just hurry up and get outside. They are not happy that you're going to come with me. You must show them much respect; otherwise, you really cause many more problems for us. Now come outside and speak only when spoken to."

Annya walked outside and Lancelot followed her. The trees barley looked at them and started to slither across the forest floor and Annya and Lancelot followed.

"What exactly do they want with us?" Lancelot whispered to Annya.

"They want to ask me about our business here, but they don't want anything to do with you."

"What? Why?"

"It's because you're a mortal. They feel that they should have nothing to do with you. Because your kind cut down trees and burn them, make them into furniture or whatever else you do."

"But that's outrageous! How do they expect us to live if we do not use trees?"

"I'm not disagreeing with you, but I can also see where they are coming from."

"What about you? Why do they associate with you? Don't your people also use wood?"

"Yes, we do. But we are closer to nature than mortals are. We take the wood only if there is not other substitute for it and they don't seem to mind because we take only what we need. Also, my people helped them build this world that is underneath yours."

"Still, I don't think that they should treat me like dirt."

Annya said nothing because she knew that it was pointless to argue with Lancelot.

They walked silently with the trees and only when they arrived at their destiny did the trees speak to them.

"You" –they indicated to Annya- "sit over there and tell the mortal to stand behind you."

The chair was in the middle of a semi-circle with the back of the chair facing the empty space behind the chair. There were deep holes in the ground where the trees settled themselves comfortably in.

Annya walked up to the chair and stood in front of it. She told Lancelot to stand behind the chair and only when the elders were in their holes did she sit down.

"Do you know why you are here?" grumbled the eldest tree in the old language.

"I have reason to believe I am here because Excalibur lies here and we need it back."

"Excalibur? Why do you think that we have it?"

"I have overheard that your kind has taken it from some mortals."

"Mortals? Which mortals?"

"They belong to a gang. Not a good gang, mind you, and they have many evil intensions."

"What are their intensions?"

"I am not sure of all of them, but I know that their main intension is to take over Camelot."

"How did you come to know of this?"

"They kid-napped me and I over heard of their plan."

The tree closed his eyes and when he opened them, they had turned red. Annya felt her own eyes turn black to help mask her emotions.

"What is the name of their leader?" the tree asked in an angry voice.

"Murtag. I know now of his last name."

There was a murmur of urgent whispers from the elders and only died down when the eldest one said something to them in their own language.

"You are sure of this?" the tree asked, his voice rising.

"Yes, I am."

Silence. It was so quiet that you could almost hear it.

Finally, the eldest tree spoke, "We know of this man and his group of whom you speak of. This man has done terrible things to our kind; we do not want anything to do with him. We have learned much from that mortal standing behind you," –Annya looked at Lancelot and he looked at her with worried eyes- "We know that your intensions are good and that you both have nothing to do with Murtag and his men. So hear this. We will give you Excalibur, but on one condition and only if you be willing to accept it."

Annya grabbed Lancelot's hand and he put his other on her shoulder protectively.

"What is it you ask of me?" Annya asked.

"We ask that we have a direct connection to the fairy world."

Annya started to squeeze Lancelot's hand so hard that he whispered to her that she was hurting him. She lessened the pressure on his hand.

What the trees were asking of Annya was astonishing! First off, making a direct connection from the fairy world to the tree's world would take years of hard work; not just physical work, but also magical work and they would also have to take a scientific approach to this too. Dealing with atoms and particles were not one of Annya's favorite subjects. Not only that, she would have to convince the whole fairy world to agree to build a connection with the tree's world. Was Excalibur really worth all of this?

"Is … is there anything else that you would rather ask of us instead of this huge task?" Annya asked softly.

"No." The tree's reply came.

Annya paused, and then said, "Will your kind help us in building the connection?"

"Yes, but only the physical part."

"What kind of connection were you thinking of?"

"Doors."

"Doors?" Annya asked loudly in shock.

Doors were the best way to get to another place. It was the fastest and the least dangerous. They were also the hardest and most difficult to build. There were Doors in the fairy kingdoms where it allowed fairies to travel to another kingdom faster, but never has it been heard of, or even thought of to build Doors connecting two worlds!

"Elders," Annya said. "As you probably know, this has never been thought of and would be extremely hard, even close to impossible to build Doors between two worlds. Is it not possible of building a different way?"

"We want Doors and we will not change our decision."

"And if I cannot agree to this?"

"Then Excalibur, you, and the mortal remain here forever."

Annya's eyes turned yellow and red. She was furious!

"I cannot promise you that this will happen," Annya said, trying to control her rage in her voice. "But I can promise that I will do my best to convince others to build the connection. I am well known in our world and I have lots of power, so I am sure that other will listen to me. This I promise you."

The trees nodded in agreement and the eldest said, "You may go back to where you are staying. We will bring you Excalibur and safely lead you out of our world. This I promise you." The trees stood up and Annya did so too out of respect.

When all the trees left, Annya stormed away to their sleeping place while Lancelot ran to catch up with her. Annya was outraged! If only she could have lied! The trees themselves said that they could not read her mind because she was a fairy, but only if they did not speak the ancient tongue! Then Annya could have lied.

Lancelot caught up with Annya and asked her, "What's wrong?"

"I wish I could have lied!" Annya nearly screamed in frustration.

"Well, why didn't you?" Lancelot asked without even questioning her about what had just happened in the meeting.

"I couldn't! You can't lie in the ancient language; if you do something nearby dies. This language is sometimes known as 'The Language of Trust' because you can't lie while you speak it. Oh, I wish it had taken place in English, but they didn't want you to hear incase they said something that you were not to know." Annya was not speed walking and her breathing became shorter.

"Tell me what happened." Lancelot said softly.

Annya told him everything.

"So there is no other way except to build this door thing." Lancelot said.

"Well, only if we want to stay here forever, then yes, that is the only way."

"I see," said Lancelot in thought.

They had arrived at their place and Lancelot walked through the door way with Annya following him. They sat down near the fire and Annya was still fuming with rage. She just sat and stared at the fire. Lancelot sat down beside her.

"Look," Lancelot said. "What is done is done. You can't go back and change what took place back there. Look on the brighter side, maybe the fairies will not listen to you and you won't have to build the connection between your world and this world."

"I guess so." Annya sighed.

Lancelot moved behind Annya and put his legs next to Annya's sides. He put his arms around her and brought her back so that she was leaning on him. She felt the anger leaver her and she became calm. She made herself comfortable and put her head between Lancelot's neck and his shoulder. Lancelot started to rock her back and forth.

"You just relax." Lancelot said,

"Mmm. I am already." Annya replied dreamily.

"Good, then go to sleep."

Annya closed her eyes and immediately fell asleep and dreamed of being back home with Lancelot with her,

Something was wrong. The ground was shaking and Annya smelled something burning and she heard screams. She opened her eyelids, which we weighed down with sleep, with an effort. She pressed her palms to her eyes and rubbed the sleep away. She sat up and saw Lancelot sleeping in the other bed. Annya got up to wake him.

"Lancelot," Annya said while shaking him. "Lancelot, wake up. Something is not right."

Lancelot sat up immediately and put a hand out to steady himself.

"What's wrong?" he asked; his voice heavy with sleep.

"I'm not sure, bit I can smell smoke and there are some people screaming."

All of a sudden, a man rushed into their hut and Lancelot jumped out of his bed, ready to fight.

"Please," the man gasped. "I am under orders from the elder trees to take you away safely."

The man was breathing hard and sweat trickled down his face. He was shirtless and was wearing only trousers with something slung across his back. His arms and body were covered in soot he had some burns on him. His black hair was untidy and his brown eyes were full of fear.

"What's going on?" Lancelot asked him.

The man shook his shaggy head, "No time to explain, sir," he said. "We must go; now! I have Excalibur with me," and he turned around to show that his burden on his back was Excalibur. "Please hurry. I will explain on the way."

The man sounded so distressed that he could not have possibly been lying.

"Ok, we'll come." Annya said.

The man hurried out of the hut with Lancelot and Annya following him. As soon as they stepped out of the hut, what they saw horrified them. The air was filled with smoke and they saw that most of the buildings and even some of the trees were on fire. There were humans trying to put out the flames and there were others, who dressed differently than the ones who lived with the trees, were lighting things on fire. Annya wanted to stop and help put out the fires and to help the screaming trees; but Lancelot held tight to Annya's hand and pulled her a long.

The man leading them hurried through the forest and took great care to not be seen. Every time they tried to talk to him, he put a finger to his lips and shook his head and continued to go through the dark forest. At first, Lancelot and Annya had no idea where they were going, but later they could see that he started to move in a direction with more purpose. They saw that he was leading them into the heart of the forest. Only when they came to a clearing in the middle of the forest did he talk to them.

"There is not much time to explain and I must hurry back so I can help fight." Their guide took a deep breath in and then said, "A man name who goes by the name 'Murtag' has invaded out world. He has many followers and I fear that we might not be able to hold them off."

"How did they get here?" Annya asked.

"Unfortunately, miss, they followed you here."

"Oh, I am so dreadfully sorry."

"No, no, miss; it's not your fault. But miss and sir, I must be heading back so I will tell you how to exit out of this world. Follow this pat," he said as he indicated to a narrow and word down path. "And when you see a single tree surrounded in blue light, speak the ancient tongue and say my name and the place you wish to go. My name is Brom. I wish you both well and here is Excalibur." He took off his burden and delicately handed it over to Lancelot. "Make sure that Excalibur is never held in the hands of Murtag. Go now! Hurry!"

"I will defend it with my life." Lancelot said and turned to go down the path.

"Thank you so very much, Brom!" Annya said and hurried after Lancelot. She waved and Brom waved back and then ran back to help the trees.

Annya and Lancelot ran down the narrow path. It was very dark and made it very hard to see and more than once they had wandered off the path, but they were always able to find it again and continue.

They arrived at the tree. The tree looked as if it were on fire with the blue light surrounding it. It was a small tree, however, not even taller than Annya. The tree stood by itself, nothing was closer than a meter of the tree; it was as if they respected it.

Annya was curious and put a hand out to touch the tree when a voice ran in her head and made her cry out in alarm.

"What do you want?" boomed the voice in her head. The voice was speaking no language. It was as if Annya was thinking it. But it was so loud!

Annya looked at Lancelot and saw that he could hear the voice too.

_Speak the ancient tongue._

"We were told to come here by a man named Brom. He said that this was the way we were to exit." Annya said in the old language to the tree.

"And where is the place you wish to go?" the voice in her head said.

Annya looked at Lancelot and he said, "The Forbidden Forest."

"The Forbidden Forest," Annya repeated Annya in the old tongue.

There was an ear-splitting crack and Annya felt her body leave the earth as it was hurtled through the air. Just as quickly as it came, she was back on the earth and she looked up to see Lancelot beside her. She looked up and saw the panicked face of Theo, Lancelot's horse.

"Theo!" Annya cried and wrapped her arms around the horse' neck. The horse nuzzled her in return.

Annya felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Lancelot.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine. Are you hurt?"

Lancelot replied by giving her a hug. Annya wrapped her arms around Lancelot and they stood there, embracing each other. Annya buried her face in Lancelot's chest and Lancelot put his face in her soft hair. Only when Theo started to nudge them did they let go of each other.

"Well," Lancelot said while holding Excalibur in its sheath in his hands. "To Camelot?"

"To Camelot," Annya said and they mounted Theo and started their journey back to Camelot.

AN: So sorry that you all had to wait for this chapter! It took me a really, really long time to write this as you can see! Plus I've been SUPER busy … I could write a whole book on how busy I was! Anyways, this is my longest chapter so far and hope that you enjoy it! R&R please!


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